After The Rain
by Thursday's Dove
Summary: Is it ever too late to live? This is the story of Vegeta's younger sister, Aquamarine, after she comes to Earth looking for him. She finds that despite prior hardships, she still has a lot to learn, and a lot to live for. AU/OC. Rating may go up in later chapters to cover violence.
1. It's a Long Story

_Author's Notes: I just want to say real quick that this is my third and final draft of this story. I wrote the original version about 12-13 years ago, and obviously my writing has improved so much since then. This story has always been special to me, perhaps because it was the first full-length story I ever wrote and I still feel proud of it to this day. Yes, it's a bit mary sue-ish, yes it's alternate universe, yes to all these things that typically people overlook in fanfiction, but people will enjoy it or not enjoy it either way. I can only hope that you bear in mind that I have worked hard on this story and the characters and to see it all with an open mind. That said, any criticism is welcomed, even revered! And without further adieu..._

_Disclaimer: I obviously do not own Dragonball Z or anything from the DBZ Universe presented and described in my story. I do, however, own certain original characters and the idea for this story._

* * *

With an unearthly groan, the exit hatch of the ship opened, revealing what appeared to be a lush, benevolent world beyond. A blast of warm, crisp air brushed across me and I inhaled deeply. It was like looking through a portal into.. well.. another world. It seemed strange to me that while I had spent so much time in the darkness of space, of battle, and of my own mind, that the sun should be shining cheerily on some blue and green planet somewhere.

I hesitantly took a step off the ramp and stood upon the Earth for the first time. I'll never forget how I felt in those moments, so unsure of the future, and even more unsure of myself given everything that had happened, but also feeling an ounce of excitement. I turned and thanked the few members of the crew, who had gathered around to take a look at the new land as well, and then after a few moments the hatch closed and the ship's engines roared with the effort it took to fight the planet's gravity and become airborne again. I watched it as it became a small indiscernible dot in the sky, until it eventually vanished from sight forever. Another chapter of my life had come to a close.

As suddenly as I had arrived, I was on my own. I had no idea of where to begin my search for my brother. Unfortunately, I had no scouter, so I didn't even have a direction in which to start. I felt exhausted on the inside, and yet, the thought of seeing my brother again and hearing all about how he had defeated the monster responsible not only for our father's death, but for the suffering of so many others, lent me energy and impetus. I felt, somehow, that I was close to reaching the end of this tiring path I had been unwillingly set upon. As if reaching Vegeta and connecting with him would make everything right. I couldn't explain it, but amid the feelings of guilt and longing, I felt a glimmer of hope and it all depended on my finding my brother.

But who knew how he might have come to settle with the species of this planet? Perhaps he hadn't annihilated all of them since he was no longer following Frieza's tyrannical orders. Or maybe he had destroyed them anyway. I couldn't be too sure unless I looked around. If Vegeta was still into defeating those weaker than himself despite Frieza's permanent absence, then… I guess I would confront him about that if the time came. I knew that I myself had changed, but in what ways might my brother have changed? Maybe I'd try to convince him how pointless it was to kill so many harmless people, even if our Saiyan instincts drove us towards war and conquering. We could surely change the name our race had made for itself, if only one of us was willing to break the cycle and seek peace…

My thoughts went back to what I had heard about Frieza's downfall. It hadn't just been that a Saiyan had bested him during a battle on a distant planet, it had been that Frieza had somehow survived the destruction of the planet that had taken place during the fight, and that Frieza had subsequently gone to Earth to seek revenge for his defeat. But why had he gone to Earth? It had to be because of my brother. There were no other Saiyans left, except for myself, my brother, and Nappa and Radditz, but those two bozos didn't count. In my mind, there was no way either of those two could have defeated the most feared monster in the universe, but I truly believed that my brother could have and that he did, and that for some reason he had gone to Earth and that a vindictive Frieza had followed him there.

The unanswered questions on my mind at that point were why Vegeta had gone to Earth, of all places, what was here for him, and had he survived Frieza's vengeful wrath? Or could everything be wrong? I could have come all this way for no reason. I only hoped that it was all true, that he had really settled here, no matter the reason. Regardless of the results, I was determined to find him, or at least find out what had happened to him.

Also, the last time I had saw him had been right before… Well, seeing as I had fled without telling him, or anyone else for that matter, he had to think I was dead. There was a part of me that nagged at me and told me that he probably didn't care if I was dead or alive, but I still wanted him to know. We were the two royal children, all which remained of our proud, fallen race. Unless Nappa and Radditz had also survived this long—which I wished so badly against that I didn't even stop to think about what would happen if they _were_ still alive and with Vegeta once I found him—he and I were the last. And how perfect that would be – the Prince and Princess of Saiyans, still alive after the downfall of the tyrant who had destroyed their race. I had no idea what would happen after that, but I didn't care.

"Hey! Who are you and what are you doing here?!"

The sound of another person's voice was so sudden and so harsh, I gasped and looked around for the source, my tail bristling in alarm. I was immediately on the defensive. I wasn't sure how long I had been wandering around in this planet's wilderness, lost in thought and following this obscured path towards my brother, and I certainly wasn't sure of how long anyone else might have been there.

_Oh, please not this, I don't want to fight… I'm not here to hurt anybody… Please let me explain myself…_

I turned around and my eyes fell upon several strangers, though I wasn't sure which one had shouted at me. There was a short man with a messy mop of hair atop his head; a green man with antennae, who appeared to be a Namekian warrior; and a black-haired youth, whose age couldn't have been much beyond his teens. All three seemed a little tense, though not exactly afraid. Perhaps they didn't see me as a threat. But then, why had they confronted me in such a rude manner, and why were they eyeing me so closely?

"I'll ask again," the Namek said gruffly. So he had been the one who had addressed me a moment ago. "Who are you and what is your business here?"

My eyes darted from one alien to the other. Without a scouter, I had no way of knowing precisely how strong they were. Of course, I also didn't know what their intentions were, but perhaps they just wanted to make sure I wasn't there to hurt anyone. Maybe they were a patrol of sorts.

"I… I'm not here to cause any trouble," I said. I decided to cut straight to the chase and to sound as disarming as possible. "I'm looking for someone, actually. I'm sorry if I caused you any alarm. It was not my intention to do so."

The three of them looked slightly taken aback by my response, but they did not look altogether convinced by it either. The hairs on my tail still stood on end and the tip of it twitched slightly. This unconscious action did not go unnoticed.

"A tail?" the Namek said, surprised. He then murmured something to the other two that I was unable to hear, but they were all obviously taken aback by the presence of my tail. I shifted uneasily from one foot to the other. I wasn't sure what to make of all of this. I didn't want to be rude, but I certainly didn't feel comfortable with how suspicious of me they were acting and all the questions. I hadn't done anything wrong.

Or maybe… Vegeta _had_ done something to this planet after all. If they were concerned about my tail, maybe it was because they were linking it to Vegeta having a tail.

I didn't get a chance to think further on this, as the green man continued, "Why don't you tell us who you are and we'll decide whether or not you're here to cause any trouble."

I eyed his muscles. He definitely looked strong; so did the other two with him. But I didn't feel afraid of them either. It didn't matter. Either way, I didn't want to fight with them, and I wouldn't, unless I had to. The other two didn't look like they wanted to fight either, but rather looked like they were prepared if it was necessary. The dark-haired boy to the Namek's right blinked curiously at me – it gave me the impression that he wasn't convinced that I was there to hurt anyone.

"My name is Aqua. It's short for Aquamarine. I'm… it's a long story," I sighed, knowing this would be hard to explain and not even feeling certain that they would understand or believe me. "But for the sake of this meeting, I will tell you that I'm here looking for my brother."

They continued to stare at me, measuring my every word.

"This planet is so large; I don't expect any of you to actually know him."

"Try us." That was the Namek again. He was obviously the leader of the bunch here, so I continued speaking directly to him.

"Well.. he's a Saiyan. I guess maybe you know that since you seem familiar with a tail such as mine." While the Namek continued his hard stare at me, the other two's expressions began to gradually shift into a look of incredulousness. "Like I said," I continued, "it's a long story, but I heard he came here some time ago. Maybe he's not even here anymore. His name is Vegeta, and if you know him or know where he is, I would very much appreciate it if you could tell me where I might find him."

"What?!" the three of them blurted simultaneously.

Now it was my turn to stare. Their reaction had been strange to me. They were acting as though they knew him personally. I felt hope deep inside of me rise up.

"Do you know him?" I asked, my breath quickening. "Could you tell me where he is? I must find him!"

"Now just wait a minute. Did you say that _Vegeta_ is your _brother_? He's never mentioned having a sister!" the short man piped up, his hands on his hips. The spark of hope dimmed a little. If these folks knew him, and judging by the fact that they were here at all, I assumed they were somehow in alliance with one another, why had he not mentioned me to them? My best guess was that he did think I had perished some time ago.

I decided to ignore that curious fact for the moment and pressed on. "Yes, he's my brother. I've been looking for him for a long time, and.. I was hoping I'd find him here. Now it seems that I have. Please," I implored, "I need to see him."

"Piccolo, I'm sorry, but she just doesn't seem to be all that threatening to me," the short man laughed as his defensive stature appeared to diminish. I felt a little relaxed, too, when he did this.

The Namek—Piccolo—still didn't look completely assured that I was not up to any mischief. That was when the youngest-looking of the three finally spoke up with, "Yeah, I can sense it. I know we just met you, but I definitely don't get the impression that you're here to harm anyone." He offered me a smile, which I wasn't sure what to do with, so I just gave him a small nod and a grateful look in return.

"Thank you..." I said quietly, finally letting go of my breath. "You know my brother, then?"

"Well, yes," the young man answered tentatively, placing a hand on the back of his neck. "It's… a long story too, I'm afraid. But I don't see any harm in taking you to see him."

"Forgive me for being direct, but it's very hard to believe that you two are related," the Namek said. I frowned a little and looked back to him. "For one, you two don't look very much alike. And for another, you seem to have completely different personalities."

"Yeah, really," chimed the short man and the younger man.

I couldn't help but show a small, sad smile at that. It would seem that at least this bit of my brother had not changed. I also couldn't think of anything to say back to that, so I just stayed quiet, hoping my silence wouldn't make him feel even more suspicious.

"Come on, Piccolo, there's no point in drilling her with further questions. It looks like we'll be standing here all day if we do, and I don't know about you, but I'd like to get back home to my family in time for dinner," said the short man.

"Yeah, and remember when we met Trunks? We weren't sure what to think of him at first either, and he turned out okay," said the young man.

Finally, the Namek relaxed a little and stood up straighter. "Very well. We'll take you to Vegeta. But once we get there, you have to explain everything to us."

I offered the Namek a tight smile and a nod of agreement. "Very well." As deceptive as it was, I knew damn well that I had no intention of telling him anything aside from what was essential, and _I_ would get to decide what was essential.

"Come on," the Namek beckoned, pushing himself off the ground and flying in what I assumed was the direction of where Vegeta was. Although I had to trust that he wasn't going to lead me astray, I remained keen of my surroundings in case escape became necessary.

I flew after him. The other two followed closely behind. I was actually surprised that they _could_ fly. During my travels, I hadn't come across many species that could fly, and yet these three did it with ease, as if they did it every day. It impressed me, but I decided not to make anything of it. It was not the most pressing matter at hand.

"I must say, it's nice to have an alien show up who isn't hell-bent on blowing us all up," the short man said with a chuckle.

The Namek gritted his teeth in annoyance. The young man looked like he wanted to also laugh at first, but then he must have realized what I had also realized. It was now clear that my brother was (or once had been) included on that list. I went on to wonder what had gone on during the gap of time since I had last seen my brother. I hoped all would be answered soon.

"None of you look blown up to me," I retorted dryly. Whether or not I was considered a threat, I didn't appreciate having come all this way only to be interrogated about things that was none of their business and then to hear these same people insulting my brother. I wouldn't have it. If he really had done any terrorizing as the short man had insinuated, I would think about it later. For now, all I wanted as to see my brother.

"Hey, sorry," he said, putting his hands up disarmingly. "I meant nothing by it… Not to you, anyway. Erm, I mean—…"

"I think what Krillin means to say," the young boy cut in to save his friend as the reproachful look on my face grew, "is that… it's a long story."

The one named Krillin gave the young man an appreciative look for his quick response.

"I guess it's a long story all around," I said back, more calmly. I didn't really want to get on anyone's bad side, but I certainly wasn't in the mood for jokes. Nevertheless, I resolved to keep my mouth closed the next time. I had no way of knowing, after all, what they had been through, just as they had no way of knowing what I had been through. I had to remember to try to not jump straight to being defensive. I had done that often enough with Jacinth, and now he was gone…

"I'm sorry…" I said flatly, not looking at any of them.

There were a few moments of uncomfortable silence after that, until the young man again spoke up.

"I'm Gohan, by the way. You know, my dad was a S—"

"Gohan," the Namek interrupted, "you are not to tell our _guest_ anything until we meet with Vegeta and find out if she is really telling the truth or not. Understand?"

With my eyes narrowed slightly, I couldn't help but feel that this guy was being a bit hypocritical. Here they were, making it painfully obvious that however familiar they were of my brother, they didn't think much of him, and yet this stoic Namek was exhibiting traits similar to the very person about whom they were making jokes. However much I understood his tactics, I still didn't find that I cared much for him just yet.

"Right. Sorry." He turned his head to me and muttered, "I don't think you're lying."

"I _can_ hear you, kid," the Namek warned.

Gohan's face turned bright red at that and he promptly closed his mouth. I felt some small bit of gratitude that at least one of them wasn't treating me like a prisoner. On the other hand, I supposed I understood the Namek's caution. It's not like I had been heavy on the details myself.

"It's okay," I said, feeling that I should say something to help him out since he had voiced some trust in me, even if I didn't understand it either. Fleetingly, I thought of Jacinth, and how he had trusted me so quickly and easily too, and how it had taken me so long to warm up to him, despite his unconditional efforts to help me.

I forced those thoughts aside. I didn't want to think about Jacinth, especially not at that moment. Everything was still fresh in my mind, as was the pain in my heart; I didn't want to give my vulnerabilities away to these prying strangers. Best to let them believe I had nothing to hide, for the time being.

"I understand the need for security."

"Good," replied the Namek. "Now, I think there has been more than enough talking."

After that, there was silence, which I wasn't exactly in disagreement with. It meant fewer questions for me to have to answer, dodge, or lie about. The only feeling that outweighed the uneasiness brought about by the strangers was the excitement that was building in my stomach. I was going to be reunited with my brother soon. Everything would finally come together.

A long time, made longer by my growing anxiousness, passed in silence with Gohan and Krillin exchanging glances every now and then. Until, suddenly—

"There it is," said the short man, pointing to a large, dome-shaped building with the words CAPSULE CORP. imprinted on the side.

The building was also in the middle of an area that was quite populated. I was surprised to see that my brother had made his home in such a busy place. I knew how much he preferred his solitude to the company of others, so how had he come to live in this strange building? And what was Capsule Corp.? Was he the head of this organization? It raised so many more questions. There had been, after all, at least ten years of mystery between us.

Needless to say, it was a struggle for me to not start blurting out questions right then and there. As hard as it was, I resisted and decided on saving all of my questions for Vegeta.

The four of us landed in the same order in which we had taken off. Everything around here was new and fascinating to me. The trees, the air, the birds, the sounds surrounding me. Despite the situation I had somehow landed myself in, I was secretly enjoying all the new experiences. After traveling through the vast darkness of space for a long period of time, one comes to appreciate anything new, especially where it involves sunlight and life.

"Ohh, Gohan! Krillin! Piccolo! Over here, boys!"

My eyes followed to where the three boys were waving at a blond woman who was waving back from where she stood in the middle of a garden that was tactfully nestled next to the big building.

"Hey there, Mrs. Briefs!" Gohan and Krillin greeted, walking over to where she was. Piccolo brought up the rear, making sure I was always in the middle of them.

"Would you like some cookies? I just made some! Fresh out of the oven!"

I was stunned by this woman's kindness, generosity, and general lack of uneasiness as I stood there quietly. At that point, the only people I had met on this planet had been the three who had escorted me here, and they had all been on their guard at first. This one seemed a lot less uptight.

"Oh, yeah! That sounds great! I'll take some!" Krillin exclaimed excitedly. He visibly shrunk back when Piccolo frowned in disapproval and shook his head at him from behind folded arms.

"Er, on second thought, I don't want to spoil my dinner." I could almost see a sweatdrop forming on the back of his head. "Thank you, though."

"Oh, well, how about your lovely guest then?" she said as turned to me.

I could feel my face growing warm at her comment. No one had ever referred to me so kindly before. In fact, Nappa had once delighted in calling me the ugliest Saiyan bitch he had ever seen, which I found hilarious, because he was just about the ugliest creature _I've_ ever seen, dead or alive.

Not that I would have said yes to her offer, but her positive attitude had rubbed off in such a way that I was at least mildly aggravated when Krillin turned her down on my behalf. Her hospitality made me feel more relaxed. Of course, it also made me wonder who she was and why my brother was living in the same house as she. Maybe they were married. Then again, how could this union have ever taken place? She didn't seem like the type of woman my brother would have been interested in. On second thought, my brother didn't seem like the type who would have ever gotten married unless it had been arranged by our father.

I didn't get a chance to say thank you to her, because Krillin began speaking again.

"She's kind of why we're here, actually," he said. "It's a long story, but.. Is Vegeta and or Bulma around? We need to talk to them."

"Vegeta or Bulma? Why yes, Vegeta's in the gravity chamber with Trunks, and Bulma's in the lab with her father, working on a new project. Is everything okay?"

Krillin laughed nervously and put a hand on the back of his head. "Well, yeah, mostly. Don't worry – there's nothing to worry about, Mrs. Briefs. We just need to tell Vegeta that his sister is here to see him, that's all." He jumped slightly when he saw that Piccolo had cut him a look of warning. "I mean, we just have something important to discuss with him. With Vegeta. Could you get Bulma for us? You know we aren't going to be able to get Vegeta out of there without her help."

"Oh, okay. Wait here a minute."

The blond woman set down her watering canister and disappeared into the building, presumably to fetch this _Bulma_ person. She returned moments later, after another round of uncomfortable silence between the four of us, with a blue-haired, well-dressed woman at her side. The blue-haired woman set her hands on her hips and strode over to where the four of us stood, an annoyed look on her face.

"What is _so_ important that you have to interrupt my project, you guys? I hope you realize that working on a solution for worldwide perpetual energy is _really_ heavy stuff," she scolded.

"Of course, of course, Bulma, that's pretty amazing, but—" Krillin stammered, putting his hands up in defense.

"My mom said that you guys needed to see Vegeta about something. What's the deal? Is something wrong? I don't know if I like the idea of you three here together, wanting to see Vegeta, with some strange girl you appear to be escorting around the place. Who is she and what does she want with Vegeta?" Bulma ranted, her gaze meeting mine. I forced my eyes to keep looking back at hers as long as she was referring to me. There was something inside of me that told me I was wrong about who Vegeta's wife was, if he even had one, that is. Something in the way she spoke about my brother. This woman had to be involved with him somehow.

Krillin either couldn't seem to keep up with all the woman's questions or didn't like her tone of voice—or both—because he took a step back and let Gohan do the talking, who definitely seemed to be more comfortable with speaking to the blue-haired woman.

"It's a long story, but I'll summarize what we know so far, okay?" he explained. "I was actually at home studying at the time. I don't know what the other two were up to, but I guess it doesn't matter. Anyway, we all sensed some strange power approaching. It wasn't exactly a small power either, you see, so I decided to check it out, and what do you know, I ran into Krillin and Piccolo, who were also on their way to see what was up. When we got there, we found Aqua here."

"Aqua?" Bulma questioned, raising an eyebrow and looking nonplussed. "And just who is she? What does she want?" Now Bulma looked mildly uncomfortable, presumably because now she knew I wasn't from this planet.

"That's just it, Bulma. She's a Saiyan, and she says she's here to find Vegeta. She.." Gohan side-glanced me, looking a little uncertain now that he was hearing himself say it all out loud, and then looked back to Bulma. "She says she's Vegeta's _sister_. Imagine that, huh? Who knew he had a sister?" His attempt to top off the tale with a bit of humor was appreciated only by Krillin, whose flash of a smile at the attempt quickly faded when he noticed that no one else was smiling.

"I don't understand. How can Vegeta have a sister? I mean, didn't he say that he and Goku were the last?" Bulma said.

She was looking at me again, her blue eyes moving from head to toe and back up again, as though she were measuring me up or searching for something that might tip her off as to my resemblance or relationship to Vegeta. Her eyes stopped their search when they found my tail, wrapped around my waist. I shifted a tiny bit in my self-consciousness.

"Wait a minute, she has a tail? That's just like Goku's tail!" she exclaimed.

I had no idea who his "Goku" character was that she had mentioned twice now, but I briefly wondered who he was and why, if he had a tail like mine—which seemed to confirm my being a Saiyan—he had been here on this planet at all. The significance of all of this was more unclear than it had ever been.

"Wow, there's no mistaking _that_. Unless there's another species out there with a tail like that, I'd say she isn't lying about being a Saiyan, guys. But the part about being Vegeta's _sister_… I don't know if I can believe that myself. You say you're here just to see him? Can you tell us a little more than that?"

"I'm sorry, but there isn't much to tell you," I replied, beginning to feel very perturbed by all the probing questions and general lack of respect for my word that was being displayed. I understood that they didn't know who I was or what my true intentions were, but still I felt my frustration at the absurdity of the situation growing. I just wanted to see my damn brother, and they were treating it like I was asking to see God himself. I hadn't come all this way only to be treated like a criminal lowlife when I hadn't even shown one ounce of aggression.

"Look, no offense, but it's just that we've had too many strangers come here in the past looking for someone, only to find that they're here to kill them or blow the place up. We don't want to take that risk again. Now, I'm willing to settle with the fact that you are a Saiyan and that you aren't much of a threat, since these guys don't look too worried themselves. I can also settle with the fact that we aren't going to get anywhere if we don't show at least a little trust in each other. So," she paused only long enough to take a deep breath and exhale slowly. "Let me be the first to extend that trust."

Everyone present was surprised when she held out a hand to me. I blinked at it, stunned, not sure what she was getting it. I didn't move.

"B-Bulma? What are you..?" Krillin spluttered.

"Cool it, Krillin. How exactly do you expect her to open up and tell us anything if the three of you keep treating her like a prisoner? Have some tact, will you?" She looked back to me expectantly. Still surprised by her actions, but unable to think of a good reason to not comply, I slowly reached out my hand and took hers.

"Okay," she breathed out. "I'll take you to see Vegeta on the condition that afterwards, you tell us everything. That's my only stipulation. Do we have a deal?"

I wasn't sure about this woman just yet, but I at least felt like her word was worth more than the words of the others, especially the Namek's. She definitely was the most political and articulate of the bunch, which I found respectable enough.

"Okay," I replied. "I understand your situation. And I accept your deal."

"All right," she said, and we each released the other's hand.

"Thank you…" I said quietly.

"No problem," she said and then she winked once at me. I blinked back at her. "Don't let these stupid boys worry you. And if you do turn out to be Vegeta's sister as you say you are, then I'm sure we're all in for some interesting stories. I'm sure you can tell us all about what he was like as a child, so we can blackmail him later," she said with a grin.

A small smile crept up on my lips despite my effort to hold it back. Two could play that game. Faintly, I heard two of the others, presumably Gohan and Krillin, snickering in our wake.

"I'm sure you all have much to tell me as well. If you are all his friends, then you are all friends of mine," I said in response. They didn't need to know that I had never been friends with anyone Vegeta had been even remotely friendly to, nor that Vegeta had never really considered anyone his friend. Their weary looks told me that that was something they had figured out on their own, though.

"Well, since I'm putting some faith in you, I'll go ahead and tell you that Vegeta is actually my husband," she advised with a faint smile.

"Really?" I said, astonished.

So he _was_ married to this woman. I had to admit that I was impressed. She was very pretty, and also seemed highly intelligent and quite friendly. The only thing that I didn't understand about their union was that she was… well, for lack of a better way of putting it, she wasn't a Saiyan or from good blood. I never thought Vegeta would have considered someone of her breed to be wife material, not the Vegeta _I_ knew anyway. Once upon a time, I myself would have been disgusted with the thought, though now I don't care so much. If there was anything my ventures had taught me, it was that it didn't matter where you came from or who you were… we were all essentially the same on the inside.

But perhaps he had changed. I grew warm with the notion that my brother had grown in such a positive way. Maybe he had had the same realizations I had, and had more respect for those he might have once considered "below" himself.

"Really," she confirmed with a nod as we headed in the direction of where Vegeta must have been.

Excitement began to spread within me like wildfire. I wanted to know everything about all of them. I realized that they would probably want to know everything about me as well, but I'd cross that bridge when I came to it. There wasn't a lot about myself to tell them, anyway. Vegeta and I had grown up similarly, after all. Mostly.

"And," she went on, "We have a son. His name is Trunks."

_That_ nearly caused me to fall over. Not only had my brother married, but he was also a father. I couldn't even picture it; it was so far from my expectations.

"I never would have thought…"

I had last seen my brother while he was in his early twenties. It was hard so imagine him with a child that I almost didn't believe it – I would have to actually see the child for myself to make sure I hadn't misunderstood her.

"Bulma," Krillin cut in timidly, with a timid look back at our green friend for added affect, "Are you sure it's a good idea to be sharing all of this?"

Bulma rolled her eyes and snorted. "Honestly, you would think that being one of the strongest men in the universe would mean you have some guts. It's not like this information is going to hurt anyone. She told you guys some things about herself, so what's wrong with tell her a little bit about _our_selves?"

Yes, I decided that I liked this woman and that I could trust her enough, at least for temporary purposes. She seemed to make the most sense out of any of them, at least.

"And besides, remember when we first met Trunks? None of you believed him either, even after he took care of Frieza for us _and_ warned us about the Androids. So, not everyone you meet is up to no good."

"That's what _I_ said," Gohan added.

"Wait," I blurted. "You mean… my brother _didn't_ defeat Frieza?"

And here I thought I had been surprised enough for one day. I was so surprised by that thought alone, that I didn't even pay any mind to how they had just introduced Trunks to me as Bulma's son, and yet he had then been referred to as though they had met him beforehand somehow. What can of worms had I opened?

"Well, no," Bulma said, blinking. "It's a long story, but no, he didn't. Why did you think that he had?"

"It was a rumor I heard. It's… why I came here looking for him in the first place. The rumor went that a Saiyan defeated Frieza on the planet Namek, but Frieza then somehow survived the attack and then went to Earth to get his revenge and was subsequently never heard from again. I just assumed it was Vegeta because… well… there are no other Saiyans left. I'm sure he's told you of our homeland's unfortunate destruction."

Bulma nodded and said, "I hate to bring down your expectations, but no, Vegeta didn't defeat Frieza, either on Namek or here. To explain it all in detail would take some time, so would it be okay if we add that to the list of things we need to tell each other later? Although, I'm sure it would inflate Vegeta's ego to know that you thought that."

"Okay," I agreed. "I can't wait to hear this one. It's a relief to know he's gone at all, regardless of who dealt the final blow."

I felt relief as I realized that there was no longer any question about whether or not Frieza was still out there – Bulma had just confirmed what I had been hoping, that his deadly reign had truly come to an end. I only wished that Vegeta really had been the one to put an end to that monster's reign of terror. He had killed our father, after all.

"I agree," she said, wrinkling her nose. "He was truly disgusting."

She then stopped walking once we were in the vicinity of a large, spherical structure. My eyes moved from her to the structure, wondering what in the world it was.

"All right," she said with a resigned sigh. "Here we go."

We all stood back and watched as Bulma strode by herself up to the door and knocked forcefully on it.

"Hey, Vegeta!" she shouted.

When a minute went by without an answer, she knocked even harder. I ignored the muttering from the others as they stood on either side of me and one directly behind me.

"Vegeta, come on! You've been in there all day!"

After ten or so minutes of her tireless efforts, the hydraulics of the door let loose a high-pitched whine as it slowly lowered. The tip of my tail was twitching in anticipation, but I remained as calm as I could.

And then he was there. My brother. He looked just as I remembered him, albeit older than I expected. He looked so much like our father, it was almost like he was back from the dead. He furthermore looked as though he was about to start yelling, but then his eyes fell on me and his mouth slowly closed. He was just as shocked as I was. We were both so stunned that we were completely speechless.

There was a long bout of silence between us before he finally spoke up.

"I thought you were dead," he simply stated, almost as though he was just talking about the weather.

My hands hung even more limply at my sides.

"No," I said, my voice faint, but I forced it to come back and stood up straighter in his presence despite how weak I actually felt. Vegeta always had a way of making me feel like I needed to straighten up around him.

"No, I'm—I'm here, brother," I said, trying not to let my voice break. "I'm sorry I left. I—"

"What are you _doing _here?" he demanded harshly.

"Vegeta!" Bulma shouted.

"Stay out of this, woman! Let her answer for herself!"

I'm not sure, looking back, exactly what sort of welcome I had been expecting, but it certainly wasn't this. Getting the words out was like pulling teeth. I also couldn't believe how he was speaking to his wife.

"I came here to find you. I wanted to see you. I thought you would want to see me, considering—"

"Well why would I care if you were alive or not? It makes no difference to me."

It was a real effort on my part to keep my mouth from falling all the way to the ground and to not shrink away from him. I knew he would have viewed that as weakness and would have scoffed at me for it. I concentrated instead on tightening my tail around my waist.

But I ultimately failed myself. The only word I managed was, "Okay…" as though I didn't believe him.

"Look at you. You're even weaker than the last time I saw you. How exactly did you pull _that_ off, I wonder? Have you been living some cushy life somewhere while the rest of us have been hard at work, training?!"

His words cut me so deeply that it hardly even hurt. Now he had touched something inside of me that was so sensitive, so raw, I felt the raging need to defend it and I felt anger burning inside. How _dare_ he insinuate that I had left him to live a "cushy" life somewhere? He had no idea what I had been through, of the pain I had endured and of the friends I had lost. I had _not_ been living comfortably. I had _never_ lived comfortably, not _nearly_ as comfortably as he appeared to have been living for some time on this blasted planet.

In spite of my hard efforts at keeping my emotions to myself, I felt my jaw working as I formed the words to fire back at him. But before I could say anything, a young, purple-haired boy poked his head out from inside the chamber.

"Dad? What's going on?" he asked curiously.

"I thought I told you to stay put!" Vegeta roared, rounding on the small boy and shoving him back into the pod. I could only assume that that had been Trunks, the son Bulma had mentioned not moments before.

"Don't you _dare_ treat him like that, you jerk!" Bulma shrieked, coming at him with her fists clenched at her sides. She looked menacing, even though I knew her strength was nothing compared to Vegeta's.

"Vegeta, leave him alone! He hasn't done anything to you!" I said.

"I'll do whatever I like with _my_ son!" he yelled back at the two of us. "And _you_!" he turned to me, his eyes blazing. "How dare you barge in on my life and tell me what to do!"

He spun around and went back into the chamber, slamming the door shut behind him. Almost as quickly as he had appeared, my brother was gone again. Just like that.


	2. My Brother's Luxuries

_Author's Note: I want to quickly interject that like all good story-telling, all questions will eventually be answered, and if they aren't, then I'm a bad, bad person and you can criticize me for it. Thank you for your patience. I know it's starting off a little slow, but it will pick up soon - lots of drama and angst and even some fighting!_

_Anyway, on with it. And as always, any suggestions you have for how I can improve my writing, please feel free to voice them. :)_

* * *

The disturbed silence that was left in the wake of my brother was palpable. I couldn't believe that after everything, after I had come all this way, my brother didn't even care that I was alive. I could feel my heart stinging and the rage in my stomach building. I was dimly aware that I was clenching my fists and that my tail was bristling with anger, but I didn't move. All I did was stand there completely still, too afraid to move or say anything for fear I would explode. I wanted nothing more than to blast that contraption off its base and make my brother come out to talk to me. I could sense that the others were too nervous to approach me for the same reason.

After a minute or so, though, I managed to gain control of my emotions again. I took a deep breath and felt the pain slide down into my stomach where I would keep it safe until I had a moment alone to reflect on it. I would not show such emotion over this in front of these strangers. I mustered up a wan smile and turned around, hoping my eyes wouldn't betray me. I had become quite good at concealing my emotions, I thought.

"Thank you for helping me – each of you," I said as plainly as I could, bowing my head slightly to the group. I refused to look at any one of them in the eye for too long – I didn't want to see if they felt sorry for me.

"I will leave you all in peace now. I have done what I came here to do," I said, hoping that my words sounded convincing enough, as though everything that had just happened had been entirely planned on my part. I also felt like a total jerk for making a deal with these people to tell them everything and then going back on it. But I supposed… I could live with that crime, as long as I didn't have to hear their inevitable words of sympathy. I had done worse things, after all.

When that particular thought struck me, it struck the same sensitive spot that Vegeta's words had and it was a difficult task for me to cover up my breath catching in my lungs. I had done worse than lie to these people. So maybe this was what I deserved.

Bulma's mouth had been hanging open like the others', but she was the first to recover and stand up taller, resuming her dominating role among them.

"All right," she said, turning to each of them. "Gohan, don't you have some studying to do? And Krillin, I'm sure your wife is waiting on you. And Piccolo." She paused briefly as she turned to him last. "You should be off too. Don't worry about things here." She added a threatening twinge, one that almost sounded defensive, to what she said to the Namek.

In spite of myself, and with so many conflicting emotions inside, I remained where I stood while she dismissed the group.

"Okay, Bulma," Krillin said, glancing at me as he lifted off the ground. "We'll catch ya later." A moment later, he vanished into the sky.

Gohan lingered for a moment, shifting from one foot to the other, looking like he really wanted to say something, but as he opened his mouth to speak, I turned away from him and I heard Bulma again ask him to leave.

"Okay, Bulma… See ya later, Aqua?" he said.

_No, you won't be seeing me later…_ I thought. There was no hope in getting the kid's hopes up – I had no intention of sticking around for long now and I was fairly confident that I would never see him again. Perhaps he sensed this too, as I could almost feel the waves of disappointment rolling off of him as he departed.

"Piccolo, you really should be going now," Bulma chided when she saw that he hadn't moved since asking everyone to leave.

"I don't think so," he said gruffly. "I don't care how innocent you think she is; I'm not leaving until I know for sure whether or not she's a problem."

Bulma rolled her eyes. "Well fine then, go ahead and be a paranoid jerk, but you can do it outside of my house."

Piccolo opened his mouth to counter, and that was when I finally found the strength to speak up. "I appreciate what you're doing. But it isn't necessary. I've done what I came here to do and now I can leave." Neither Bulma nor Piccolo looked convinced, and even I didn't believe the words as they were coming out of my mouth. "I came here on a ship. I asked them to wait for me, so I will go back to them now," I lied further, knowing full well that the ship I came here on was long gone and that I would never see it again. "Thank you for helping me."

"Now wait just a darn minute here," Bulma suddenly snapped, setting her hands on her hips and looking offended, seeming to temporarily forget about the offensive Namek. My eyebrows went up slightly in surprise at her reaction. "Who are you trying to kid? I went out of my way and stopped what I was doing to help you, and showed a little faith in you as a fellow woman—and we _just met_, by the way—and this is how you show your gratitude? Oh no you don't," she reprimanded, and I could see now why Krillin was acting intimidated by her earlier. I felt my cheeks flush. "I can call a bluff when I see one and I _know_ you aren't going to just up and leave now. Not after you came all this way. No, you come with me, Aqua. My mother put some more cookies in the oven for us, and I intend on making you try some." She took a few steps in the direction of the Capsule Corp. building. "Come on, now. Not you, Piccolo."

I hesitated for a moment, not sure what to do. I stole a glance at the Namek. He eyed me with undisguised suspicion but remained where he stood. Apparently he was going to stand outside as he was told, just so he could be nearby if I decided to cause any trouble. I withheld a scowl at his wariness of me and turned my attention back to Bulma.

"But—…" I felt my willpower breaking, even though I had just met her. "What about Vegeta…"

"Don't worry about him. He's all talk. _I_ make the rules around here, not _him_."

My head was spinning from everything and I _did_ feel hungry, even if I didn't know what cookies were. Maybe food would help clear my mind.

"Okay…" I muttered in agreement, following her in an odd sort of daze, unsure of what had happened and what was currently happening. I could practically feel the Namek's gaze burning into my back – the feeling made my skin crawl but I had no choice but to ignore it.

"I hope the boy is okay," I said.

Bulma sighed. "He'll be fine. He's a tough little guy. Though Vegeta is definitely in trouble for the stunt he pulled back there."

"It's not his fault," I said quickly. I wasn't exactly sure why I was defending my brother after everything that had just happened. For some reason it felt necessary, even though I still felt sick from his reaction. "I'm sorry for the trouble I've caused."

"Hush. Cookies first – talk later," she said as she walked into the home through the door in the garden. "I'm telling you, my mom is the best baker around." Her voice was suddenly cheerful. I couldn't tell if it was genuine or forced, but I felt like it might have been more an attempt to diffuse the awkwardness of the situation. "Don't tell Krillin you got some of her cookies, though – he'll get jealous and then you'll _never_ hear the end of it."

It was my turn to release a sigh. As much as I appreciated her generosity and efforts to be kind to me, especially after what she just witnessed, all I really wanted was to be left alone. It was strange, really. When I had spent so much time alone, I felt like I wanted to be around someone. But now, I found, once I was around someone, I just wanted to be left alone. I guess I really just missed my friend. It was almost like… I knew I could probably be friends with these people if I wanted, regardless of Vegeta wanting me to leave, but at the same time, I didn't want to have any new friends. What I wanted more than anything was to have Jacinth back. He wouldn't have asked me any questions, or made any dumb jokes, or tried to force me to be tough – he would have just let me be me. Or he would have seen that I was looking glum and then dragged me off to get wasted. I know now that that was not a good way of dealing with my inner turmoil, but at the time it was all I had and I treasured those moments.

I knew in my heart that those were not the only reasons I wanted him back. I missed our connection most of all. It was my belief in that moment that I would never again have that connection with another being.

Nevertheless, I went with Bulma and watched as she went over to a table and took a seat. The blond woman from earlier was there, wearing gloves and fiddling with some flat piece of metal with some flat, round, sweet-smelling pieces of dough splayed out evenly on it. I guessed that they were the cookies that had been mentioned. I had never had cookies before. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had a real meal – just a series of processed foods on the drifter colony I had lived on and then whatever I could get my hands on out in the wilderness of the Chrysolite Star during the war. I certainly never remembered smelling any food quite so sweet before.

"You don't have to stand there, you know. It's okay to sit at the table," Bulma said with a smile.

I blinked at her for a moment before going over and taking a seat across from her. To say I felt awkward was a gross understatement.

"Hello again," said the blond woman to me. "Care for some cookies?"

"Huh?" I was still in a daze from everything.

"Yes, Mom, we'll take some. I was just telling Aqua here about how your cookies are the best in the city."

Bulma's mother blushed. "Oh stop it, they aren't _that_ good."

"You're being too modest. You really should learn how to take a compliment…"

Their voices faded into the background as my thoughts once again began to flood my mind. Of all the scenarios I had imagined for that day, I never thought that _this_ would happen, least of all that my brother would accuse me of living a cozy life somewhere. Anger stirred in my stomach again at what he had said. What I wouldn't give to give him a piece of my mind...

"Here you are," Bulma's mother interrupted my thoughts.

I blinked the anger from my eyes and stared down at the brownish discs on the plate before me. Both of the women were watching me expectantly, so I slowly picked up one of them and found it was quite warm to the touch. I hadn't noticed until then that there were bits of darker brown poking out from it as well. What a curious item it was.

After I took my first tentative bite, I understood why Krillin had made such a fuss about them earlier. They were bloody fantastic. I had never tasted anything so sweet before. It actually caught me by surprise and my face involuntarily scrunched up at it.

Mrs. Briefs looked worried. "Oh my, is it okay? Did I get a bad batch of eggs or something?"

"No, it—…" I swallowed, trying to hold back the urge to eat them all right then and there. "It's really good. I've never had anything like that before."

"Oh wonderful!" she exclaimed and clapped her hands together excitedly. "Here, I'll make you as many as you like!" And the effervescent woman skipped back into the kitchen to begin making some more.

"See? I told you so," Bulma said.

As I finished off the first one and started on the second, I wondered bitterly how indeed Vegeta had come to the conclusion that _I_ had been the one slacking off when he obviously had such a giving family who baked him things like cookies, and had enough spare time in his rigorous training regime to reproduce. He had no idea how grateful he should have been to have been blessed with such gifts.

By the time I finished the second cookie, some of the bitterness I felt inside began to wane. Something in the cookies was making me feel a little better. The sugar, maybe. Or those particularly rich, melty pieces that were settled in the crunchy part.

"Look at how scrawny you are. When was the last time you had a good home-cooked meal, hmm?" queried Bulma's mother.

"I'm.. not sure…?" I answered, uncertain if I had _ever_ really had one.

Bulma had her head resting in the palm of her hand and was propped up on the table, watching us in amusement. I felt as though she had planned this and I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. All of these people struck me as strange. Even stranger to me was how my brother had come to settle with them.

"Well, that is just unacceptable," she replied. "You wait right there and I'll make some real food for you."

"Okay…" Even as I spoke, my stomach let loose an embarrassingly loud groan. I looked down, feeling warmth rush into my cheeks again.

"While we're waiting, I have to ask," Bulma interjected. I looked back up at her, wondering when this was going to end and at the same time realizing that I had the power to up and leave at any time, regardless of what the Namek waiting outside would do. I would have fought him if I had to. "There isn't really a ship waiting for you, is there?" she asked.

My gaze fell away from hers again. "No."

"So you have no place to stay." It wasn't a question, but more of an observation.

I kept looking down and my silence must have been enough of an answer for her, because she then said, "Well that settles it then."

"Huh?" I looked up, bewildered.

"You can stay in one of our guest rooms."

My mouth almost fell open at the bluntness of her offer. I somehow managed to regain my composure and said, "But I can't stay here."

"Don't be shy now. I told you to forget what Vegeta said. This is my house and I want you to stay."

"Bulma… I can't." I was trying hard to get her to understand and be as polite as possible, but I was finding just how difficult it was to turn this woman down, she who had instilled the smallest amount of trust in me. "I only came here to see my brother, and since I've done that, there's no reason for me to stay. I appreciate the offer, but—..."

"But what?"

"But… I can't."

"That's not an answer. Quit trying to get out of our deal. You're staying. We don't have to talk about anything tonight – I wouldn't expect you to. But I think you should at least stay a day or two to see if we can work things out. I don't know how long it has been since you and Vegeta last talked, but it certainly hasn't been within the last twelve years that _I've_ known him. You two are kind of like strangers now, so maybe he just needs a few days to warm back up to you."

I realized that on some level, she was right – Vegeta and I _were_ kind of like strangers after over a decade of not interacting with each other. But I also knew that Vegeta and I had pretty much _always_ been strangers to one another – we had never really been all that close. On top of that, I could have argued that _I_ had grown up with Vegeta, so obviously _I_ knew more about him than _she_ did, but I knew that just wasn't true anymore. There were other people who now knew more about my brother than I did. I was distressed with this knowledge but there wasn't much I could do about it. And I _did_, more than anything, want to fix things between us. I knew it was what my father would have wanted and, despite everything, I cared for my brother, too.

I let out a breath of air and nodded once in agreement. "Okay," I said. "That makes sense. You're right."

"Of course I am. I'm _always_ right," she said with a friendly smirk. "You know what else I think?" I looked at her questioningly. "If I were Vegeta... I think I would be kind of in shock if my sister showed up at my door after so long. I'm just speculating, of course," she added quickly, "because who really knows what goes on in that head of his?"

I frowned at that, despite her attempts at lightening the mood. "You really think so?"

"He's never mentioned you, Aqua," she said gently. "Never even hinted or suggested that he might have a sister, or any sibling for that matter. He probably thought you were dead... so when he saw you there... it was like seeing a ghost from his past, something he had endeavored to leave behind once he decided to stay here."

She paused in her musings to allow those words to hang in the air. They indeed sank in deeply and a feeling of guilt crept up on me. I wasn't sure if that was what she had meant to make me feel, but there it was either way.

"Please don't ever repeat any of this to him," she continued cautiously. "I'm sure he'd deny it either way, but I'd rather not have to argue with him about it. I _do_ have more important things to do with my time, after all."

"I understand," I said.

"I'll bet... right now he's trying to pretend none of this happened, but deep down... I think he knows things are about to change and is just... panicking a little, that's all. You know how he is, I'm sure."

"Yeah. I get it," I said quietly.

I _did_ get it, even though I was still reeling from how he had reacted to seeing me there. After Bulma's explanation, I _really_ felt stupid for being there. How presumptuous had I been to just show up in my brother's life after having left him, having made him think that I was dead, and expect him to accept me back into his life with open arms? He had no way of knowing why I had left or of anything that had happened during the interim, so of course things wouldn't just fall into place so easily. I realized in that moment how much I had been deluding myself into thinking a happy reunion would take place. Not only had we never been close to begin with, but I guess I felt that after so many personal tribulations, a happier outcome was bound to be in my future. It wouldn't be the first time I was wrong.

I decided to keep my insecurities on the issue to myself. I didn't really feel like going into our dark history with Bulma – she was still a stranger as far as I was concerned.

"I will give him time," I announced. Bulma nodded in acknowledgement and sat back in her chair, almost with the air of having diffused a bomb. "I honestly didn't mean to cause him any trouble by coming here – or any of you, for that matter... I just thought..."

I shook my head.

"Thought what?" Bulma prompted.

I released a sigh and looked away. "I don't know anymore."

The other woman gave me a sympathetic look and tactfully decided not to push further on the subject. If she had guessed that the door to what I was willing to talk about was closing right then, she would have guessed correctly. I had already talked more than I was used to and I was feeling exhausted from both that alone and the prospect of another long journey just ahead. I was nowhere near out of the woods, as I had thought.

"Well," she said, "I think you should rest after you eat and later there will be plenty of time for us to talk and get to know each other and all that."

I didn't tell her that I planned on sneaking out in the middle of the night, of course. The Namek didn't have to know that I was leaving either – I would just have to be careful. I ignored the fact that he and the other two males had somehow known I had arrived and sought me out without any visible means of being able to do so, and resolved to not let that get in my way of escaping.

A short amount of time later, after I had consumed the strange, but filling, meal Bulma's mother had placed before me, Bulma excused the two of us and got up to show me to where I was to stay for the night.

"Thank you. I am tired after my travels," I admitted. _That_ was no lie.

"I bet. What was that, several billion light years of travel?" she asked in a humored tone.

"Something like that," I quipped.

"Here you go, then," she said as she opened a door. "I hope it's comfortable enough for you."

I stepped into the room, feeling suddenly timid as I stood there surrounded by the foreign decor. It wasn't what one might consider to be a large room, but it was larger than anything I had ever personally stayed in – I was used to staying in small, compact quarters for space travels, after all.

I glanced at the collection of books and a square, black screen that were all recessed into a wall opposite the bed and wondered if this was some type of surveillance system. I decided not to ask and that it didn't matter anyway – I would do what I wanted, when I wanted, and no surveillance system was going to stop me. If I had once run away from Frieza without being caught, then surely I could run away from these folks.

"Oh," Bulma said suddenly, causing me to turn to look at her. "If you'll give me your clothes, I'll have them washed for you."

I looked down at the dark blue and brown shirt I was wearing that reached down to my knees, under which was a similarly colored, light-weighted pair of pants. As I had long since ditched my Saiyan armor, a symbol of my life of servitude to Frieza, the Chrysolitians had made some clothes for me to wear while I was living with them. My clothes _were_ dirty... but—

"I'll give you something of mine to wear for the night," she said reassuringly, as if she had read my thoughts.

"That's okay," I said nervously, suddenly alarmed by her idea. "You really don't have to."

"But your thing is filthy." My tail twitched at her having called my clothes a "thing". "Come on. I'll have it ready for you in the morning, I promise. Besides, you probably want to shower, and when you're done with that, do you really want to change back into dirty clothes?" she asked sweetly and with a pleasant smile.

"Okay," I finally conceded, although I didn't move to take off any of the articles. I didn't care if she had a point or not, there was no way I was going to strip down in front of a stranger, or in front of _anyone_ for that matter.

"Well," she said, making a move for the door, "Just leave it on the bed and I'll grab it while you're in the shower."

"Right," I replied, and waited for her to shut the door completely before pulling off the clothes and shuffling over to the small bathroom that was a part of the bedroom. I pushed the door open, flipped on the light, and peered into it, feeling so out of place there. Everything with its fancy, floral, pastel colors was happily sitting in its place, and I most definitely did not fit in.

I peered at my reflection in the mirror behind the sink. I hadn't realized how disheveled I must have looked to the others. My bluish-black hair was windblown and sticking out in ways beyond that of its natural Saiyan manner and there were dark patches under my eyes from lack of sleep. My flesh looked sickly and pale from living under artificial sunlight for so long. And, as Bulma's mother had pointed out earlier, I _did_ look scrawny, perhaps even a little gaunt. I looked dreadful to say the least, but it wasn't like I had ever really had the opportunity, or necessity, to stand in front of a mirror to make myself presentable either.

My eyes lingered on the long, smooth, straight scar that marred my body, stretching from where my shoulder met my torso to just above and to the left of where my heart was. It stood out from the rest of my features like an ugly, sideways grin, serving as a grim reminder of my troubled past and how I should have died upon receiving it.

Feeling suddenly self-conscious about my appearance, I turned away from the mirror and climbed into the shower, relaxing once I felt the hot water cascade through my hair and down my body. I couldn't remember the last time I had gotten to enjoy a shower like this. The Chrysolitians, being feline-like both in their appearance and in their nature, weren't renowned for liking water, so I hadn't gotten to shower often, at least not in the conventional way. My thoughts once again became bitter as they flitted to how lucky my brother was to have such luxuries at his disposal.

Once I was finished with the shower, I wrapped myself in one of the towels that had been hanging up on the rack ready for use and cracked the door open to peek into my room, to make sure Bulma, or anyone else, wasn't there. No one was there. But what I noticed on the bed once I stepped out into the cool room caused my skin to grow even paler.

Lying casually, almost tauntingly, on the bed was a long, alarmingly pink gown that looked too large to have belonged to Bulma until I lifted it up and saw that it was only that size for maternity purposes. I examined every angle of that thing to make sure I wasn't imagining its abhorrent hue and was horrified to see that I wasn't. I felt cold disgust spread through my chest followed by an even colder sense of dread when it dawned on me that I had no option of leaving in the middle of the night now. The Namek would have spotted me for sure in that thing and Saiyan pride was an instinct that was too large to stifle. All I could do was scowl while I changed into the damned thing.

I sat there in the dark after I turned the light off, with the moonlight illuminating the ghastly gown that had been offered to me, contemplating how I had landed myself in such an absurd position. I had been to countless worlds, seen countless deaths, endured servitude for many years of my life, and somehow I had managed to end up perched on the edge of a bed in my brother's home, wearing a deplorable, pink maternity gown that wasn't even my own, thinking twice about escaping on account of it. I seethed silently and began to despise that woman for outsmarting me in such a ridiculous way. I fleetingly wondered if this is how my brother had come to remain in this place.

I finally decided to lie down after a while of fretting. Just because I planned on leaving at the first available moment, didn't mean I couldn't appreciate the softness of the bed that I had been allowed to sleep in. I laid there for quite some time, thoughts of the day's events turning over and over in my mind, until sleep finally claimed me.


	3. Exchange of Backstories

_Author's Note: Don't really have anything to say this time. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. :P_

* * *

They say that there is no rest for the wicked. I think that this, like many words of wisdom, can be interpreted differently for different people. For me it meant that I had a lot of trouble sleeping that night. I always had trouble sleeping, but doubly so in strange, unfamiliar surroundings such as the room in which I currently resided.

I awoke with a start at some point during the night, unsure if I had cried out or not. I hoped that I had not, as it might have raised some questions, not to mention alarm, in the others, and dodging questions about recurring night terrors was not something with which I wanted to deal. If that had happened, I might have reassessed my already abysmal situation and decided to leave after all, pink gown or not. But as luck would have it, I didn't appear to have made any noise, as no one came running into my room nor did I see the Namek appear at my window.

I knew it was going to be a long night after that. I stared at the starlit room around me and thought about Jacinth. I deftly avoided thinking about the last time I had seen him, as it had been the unpleasant memory of his death. What I remembered instead was how he had been able to calm my poor sleeping habits by laying with me. Having him close was the only way I was able to sleep throughout the night. Something about the warmth of his navy and orange striped fur and his purring soothed my nerves and allowed me to sleep more peacefully. I knew, logically, that thinking like that would fare me no better sleep now, but it didn't stop me from longing for those lost moments with my friend.

My thoughts turned to my brother at that point. I found it strange to think that we had not seen each other in over a decade and the first thing to happen upon our reunion was a spat. Also it was strange that he was somewhere under the same roof as I was at that moment. Everything felt so surreal. Was I really here or was I somewhere else dreaming of all of this?

No. This was all too queer to be a dream. Not even my unconscious mind could have come up with this. Besides, my unconscious mind, it seemed, after all these years, still only wanted to torment me with _her_ eyes. Those angry, aggrieved blue eyes glowed in the dark corners of nearly every dream I had, silently judging me from beyond the grave. Not even the soothing patterns of Jacinth's fur could make those eyes cease their tireless glowering. Perhaps they would haunt me until the end of my days. Perhaps I deserved it.

And perhaps the night would go on forever.

* * *

It seemed that I had only just gotten back to sleep when something woke me up again. I again had seen those judging eyes in my dreams. That by itself was not abnormal, but what was different this time was that something had been pulling on my tail in my dream and this sensation had been so realistic, it had awakened me.

This time I did make a sound as I was pulled from sleep into the waking world. As I yelped, I ripped my tail away from whatever had touched it and quickly wrapped it around myself protectively. It was then that I heard a gasp of surprise that certainly wasn't my own and my gaze settled upon the perpetrator. I immediately recognized who it was. Something aside from my stirrings must have spooked the purple-haired boy, for he had begun backing up towards the door and looked like he regretted his actions. When I saw the distinct look of fear in his eyes, I realized that to him I must have resembled a snarling, feral creature. I instantly forced my face to relax and blinked at him.

"Don't be—" I started, but it was too late. The boy was already retreating.

"I'm sorry," he stammered as he slipped out the door, "I just wanted to see if it was real!"

"Hey, wait!" I called after him, inwardly cursing myself for having reacted the way I did, however involuntary it had been. I had no way of knowing what he would tell his parents after our brief encounter, but I certainly didn't think it would paint me in a favorable light.

I hurriedly slipped out of bed and went after him without even stopping to think about what it would look like if anyone saw me sneaking around this Capsule Corp. place. I had to get to the boy and apologize and explain to him that I hadn't meant to react so harshly.

I peered both ways down the hallway to see which way he had gone. A flash of purple sharply whisking around the corner down the corridor to my left caught my eye and I hastily jumped into action. I swiftly made my way in that direction, trying not to walk too hard or make too much noise.

"Trunks, wait!" I hissed into the unknown. I had hoped that using his name would have put his nerves at ease.

I rounded the corner after him and all but skidded to a halt. The blood drained out of my face and I swear I felt my heart stop. Standing there, almost as though they had been waiting for me, was not only Bulma, but the others from the day before as well – the Namek, the short man, and the young man. All but my brother, in fact. _That_, at least, I had to be thankful for, because it was quite embarrassing enough when I realized my mistake.

Trunks had run over to his mother and was now hidden partially behind her, peering out at me with wide eyes. The others, upon seeing me standing there, each turned various shades of red and pink before averting their eyes just as quickly as they had looked.

I slowly looked down and had to suppress the urge to beat a hasty retreat, just as Trunks had done not moments before. Looking back up at me, almost cheerily, was the horrific pink gown Bulma had loaned to me. I felt my stomach church as absolute, undiluted humiliation sank in and I stood there, frozen.

"I..." I faltered shakily. I then noticed Bulma struggling to hold in laughter. I would have been deeply offended and expressed anger had I not been too busy trying to figure out how to save the remains of my dignity.

"Aqua," Bulma said in between thinly-veiled chuckles, "I left your clothes on the chair in your room late last night. They're all clean and ready to go."

"Okay..." I said numbly.

"Was Trunks bothering you?" she asked, her cheeks rosy with amusement.

"No, he—... I mean, he was in my room and..." Explaining through my embarrassment proved to be too difficult, so I gave up and said, "I'll be right back," and fled back down the hallway from whence I had come. One cannot impossibly imagine how difficult it is to retain any sort of grace fleeing while adorning a gown such as the one I had been trusted with that day.

Thus far, the whole "first impressions are lasting impressions" thing had not been going in my favor.

Moments later I was slinking back out of my room and back into the room in which I had run into the group. I hoped that the furious burning sensation in my cheeks didn't translate to blushing too brightly. I figured the wisest thing for me to do after that was to pretend I had been dressed normally all along – normal for me, anyway.

When I arrived back onto the scene, Bulma once again was the first to take control of the situation and speak. "I hope you slept okay. Mind telling us what _that_ was all about?" she said.

"Sorry," I said, sounding more nervous than I meant to. I inhaled slowly, urging my stomach to settle down after what had just happened. "I didn't mean to frighten the boy. I woke up because I felt something touching my tail, you see, and when I did, your son was there, and—.. I guess I startled him. I was trying to apologize to him."

"Oh I see," she said, her eyebrows sliding down as she suddenly looked cross. "Trunks," she said sternly, looking down at the boy. He looked back up at her timidly and moved away from her to stand next to Gohan instead. Both Gohan and Trunks broke out in sweatdrops when Bulma set a hand on her hip and glared. "I thought I told you not to go into her room," she scolded.

"Sorry, Mom!" he implored, ducking his head behind Gohan's leg. Gohan looked violated and very uncomfortable at being caught in between the angry mother and her disobedient child. "I saw her tail yesterday and wanted to know if it was real!"

"Well now that you have your answer, you can forget about getting ice cream after dinner tonight."

"But Mom!"

"No 'buts'. Now go to your room. We have some grown up things to talk about now," she ordered.

He didn't say another word after that – he simply hung his head, looked crestfallen, and slunk off to wherever his room was. I tried to look at him apologetically as he passed by, but he was too busy sulking to notice. I hadn't meant to get him in trouble like that.

Bulma let out a sigh and sat herself down in one of the chairs that was placed around a short, rectangular table in the middle of the floor. The others glanced between each other hesitantly before taking their seats as well.

"Sorry about him, Aqua. I'm afraid his curiosity comes from my side of the family," she said.

"It's okay, really," I said a bit sheepishly.

"Anyway," she said, changing the subject with a smile. "I must say, I have really been looking forward to our talk today."

"Yeah. Me too," I lied. I caught a glimpse of what appeared to be disbelief pass over the Namek's hardened expression, but I decided not to call any attention to it. I was already aware that he was the most serious of the bunch and that probably nothing I said would convince him of my innocence.

"As are we," the Namek added brusquely in what I had come to identify as his normal tone of speaking.

"Right," I said with a nod in his direction. I just wanted to get this over with, especially after the awkwardness of our encounters that very morning. "We did have an agreement as well."

Up until that point, they had all been avoiding looking at me for obvious reasons. But now, as I sat there by myself as they were all sitting closely together, I had the strangest, most uncomfortable feeling that I was on trial, and it wasn't even due to any sins that I myself had committed. They had said that whenever they had had visitors from beyond the stars before, those visitors had come to cause trouble. And here I was, innocent, yet paying the price for what they had done.

"Well..." I ventured bravely, figuring that if I spoke up first, as though I was perfectly willing to share information, that it would ease their nerves. "Where do we start?"

"You can start by explaining what happened yesterday," the Namek stated abruptly before any of the others had a chance to say anything.

I blinked slowly and deliberately at him, trying to remind myself to keep calm. Of course the Namek wanted to get straight to the point and start things off with the most recent events.

"Piccolo, you could at least _try_ to be nicer to her – she did stay and keep her word after all," Bulma interjected in my defense.

I gave my new... friend?... Was that what she was? Whatever she was to me at that moment, I gave her a grateful look and said, "It's okay, Bulma." I sat up straighter and placidly replied to the Namek, "What do you mean?"

"I mean between you and Vegeta," he grumbled. It was all I could do to keep the color from draining back out of my face. I hadn't really wanted to talk about what had happened – not that I really wanted to talk about anything, but that was beside the point.

"With all due respect, you were there and saw what happened," I said coolly, "So I'm still not quite sure what you mean."

"Well," Gohan spoke up at last, but not without a glance at the Namek, presumably to keep him from issuing a rude retort, "We all have known Vegeta for a long time, but even _we_ didn't expect to see him act that way."

"Yeah, what _happened_ between you and him anyway? I mean, the man has always been prickly, but I don't think I have ever seen a reaction quite like _that_ from him before," Krillin said.

I shot an uncertain look in Bulma's direction. Vegeta was no longer just my brother – he was also Bulma's husband, and I wasn't sure how she would feel about any discussion taking place that put her husband in a negative light. To my surprise, she inclined her head slightly, either to give me permission to proceed or to acknowledge that her husband had some, if not many, personality flaws that someone was bound to bring up at some point. Also to my surprise, I hadn't realized how much I had come to respect this woman's opinions in such a short period of time.

"An old sibling feud, I guess," I said with a long-suffering sigh.

"You've got to be kidding..." Krillin said with incredulity. "That's _it_?"

I shrugged. "I would tell you more if I knew for myself," I said softly, honestly.

The Namek saw right through me. "What are you holding back from us?" he drilled mercilessly.

"I'm not," I said a little hotly as my eyebrows began to knit together. I took in a breath and let it out slowly. "He could be mad at me for anything. Maybe it's because I ran away. But that was so long ago, I don't—"

"What do you mean you ran away?" Bulma asked kindly, leaning forward and looking at me intently. "What happened?"

I didn't want to bother with explaining that he had always hated me, and that I suspected it had all started with the death of our mother during childbirth – my birth, specifically. I really didn't want to be sharing _any_ of this with them, but there was no way of getting out of it at this point, so I chose my words carefully.

"I assume you all know at least somewhat about Frieza and Vegeta's history with him," I said, to which each of them nodded. "Okay. Well, I was with him during his time spent under Frieza's reign. Without going into too much detail it... was not an ideal life, not for me, anyway. I remained there as long as I could, for my brother, but eventually I saw an opportunity to leave and I took it," I summarized and looked down at myself.

"Wow," Krillin and Gohan breathed at the same time. Bulma also looked astonished, although she didn't say anything. The Namek didn't look nearly as impressed, but he did look like he had more questions.

"How did you do it? Leave, I mean. It didn't seem like Frieza was the kind of guy who would let anyone leave his dominion alive," Gohan said.

"You're right – he wasn't," I said, looking at him briefly. I didn't quite understand why he looked impressed. Running away from Frieza had never been something that I had deemed impressive. Foolish, maybe; necessary, definitely; but impressive? Not at all. "I only managed to escape because I was on a mission at the time," I explained cautiously. "I stole a ship that belonged to the race of people I was visiting at the time and used it to flee. I don't know if Frieza ever came looking for me. Considering he had gone through the trouble of destroying my home world, I figured Frieza would have wanted to kill me for being the last female, but—..." I paused, hoping they had gotten the idea, but they were each looking at me expectantly, so I went on, "Obviously he either never found me or never sent a search party after me to begin with. I guess he figured that I was not a threat by myself and moved on."

"He thought the same thing about Goku, and look where that got him," Krillin said with a smirk.

"Yeah, and Trunks," Gohan chipped in, also smirking.

"Can I ask about this Goku person? And can I trouble you to explain to me how Frieza met his end?" I asked. "Like I said yesterday, I came here with the expectation that my brother had defeated Frieza, but it seems I was mistaken."

"Yeah, sure," Gohan said with another quick glance at the Namek to make sure it was okay to proceed. When the Namek made no move or gesture to show disapproval, he continued. "Goku was my father. He passed away some years back," he said with a sad, wan smile. I noticed the expressions of the others also fell slightly at the mention of this.

"I'm sorry," I placated. I understood perfectly well what it was like to lose your father.

"It's okay." He offered me an appreciative smile and pushed out a heavy sigh before he went on to describe how Goku was a Saiyan and how he had wound up on Earth as a baby, how he had come to live among Earth's inhabitants, and how he had become a defender of the Earth. He also detailed the epic series of events that took place leading up to Frieza's demise and through the downfall of a strange creature named Cell, who had been the one to extinguish Goku's life in the end. It was complicated to say the least, and after his story was finished, my brain was reeling from it all.

"I see," I said airily, trying my best to digest all that I had just heard. "I'm sorry I won't ever get to meet this Trunks from the future to thank him for getting rid of that monster. I'm also sorry Goku is not around anymore either – I also owe him my thanks."

"We're sorry too," Bulma said quietly, looking down at her clasped hands.

I glanced at her and then back to Gohan just in time to see a curious look ghost across his expression. It was so brief that I almost missed it, but I recognized that look as it was one I often had to struggle to hide myself – Guilt. I wondered why he would be feeling guilty about his father's death and felt an inexplicable sense of sorrow for him. Maybe it was because we had both lost our fathers, or maybe it was because I understood his guilt better than I wanted to admit. Whatever the reason, I felt myself inwardly reaching out to him and telling him it wasn't his fault, even though I had no way of knowing if it really was or not.

In addition to the sorrow and the gratefulness I felt, I also felt surprisingly overwhelmed with resentment. I resented how this half-blood Saiyan from the future – who was my own nephew, no less – had dispatched a well-known villain so easily. Frieza had destroyed many lives and consumed many worlds; had enslaved many people and left a great trail of fear and hopelessness in his wake; had killed my father, destroyed my home planet, and wiped out an entire race of warriors... and all of that was rendered almost meaningless by his swift defeat at the hands of a youngster who could not have even begun to imagine what it was like to live beneath that vile beast. Of course I was grateful to the youngster for killing Frieza, and as I understood it, that very same youngster did come from a bleak timeline of his own, but I still couldn't help but feel that every struggle that I, and many others, had endured under Frieza's tyranny was nullified in the blink of an eye.

I wondered how my brother must have felt knowing that his own son had surpassed him and defeated the creature responsible for having all but ruined our lives. Or how he must have felt towards this Goku for always being a step ahead of him. I mean, Gohan had described how not only Goku, but Trunks and himself, had reached the level of the legendary Super Saiyan, and while my brother had also attained this level, he was still a step behind the others. I myself had not reached the level of Super Saiyan – I hadn't even realized that it was actually possible. True, once upon a time it had been a desire of mine, as it had been the daydream of any young Saiyan, but I hadn't shared my brother's ambitions since I was a child. Witnessing the murder of my father had set me on a different path altogether, though I wouldn't necessarily say it was a better path.

Whatever the case was, I was sure my brother felt resentment similar to mine for having not been the one who dealt Frieza the final blow. I forced myself to swallow the feeling. I didn't want any of them to get the wrong idea and so I just fell silent along with the others.

After a moment of silence, Bulma finally lifted her head and our gazes met again.

"I've been meaning to ask, by the way," she said. "I was thinking about it last night after you went to bed. How much younger are you than Vegeta?"

"By about five years. Saiyan years, anyway. I don't know what that would translate to in Earthling years, to be honest," I answered, perplexed by her random question.

She touched her chin in thought and kept her eyes squarely on mine. I could nearly see the cogs turning in her mind through the windows of her eyes. I shifted uncomfortably in my skin but hid it from the others as best as I could. "Well," she said, "You look like you're, what, twenty-two? Twenty-three?"

"I..." I paused as the others each looked back and forth from Bulma to me expectantly, waiting for the other shoe to drop. "I guess so...? Why do you ask?" I wasn't quite sure what she was getting at, and I embarrassed myself by realizing that I wasn't sure how old I was. It's not like I had had calendars or anyone to remind me it was my birthday during my travels, and not like I had remembered it for myself anyway. Given everything that had happened, my age hardly seemed relevant.

"I guess it doesn't _really_ matter, but I was more so curious for myself for scientific reasons... I _am_ a scientist, as you know. I noticed yesterday – during the brief time Vegeta was.. _talking_ to us, if you want to call it that – that you and him don't look all that close in age."

Six pairs of eyes whipped in my direction and observed what the owner of the eighth pair of eyes had just pointed out. All eyes widened, including mine, slightly.

"You're right, Bulma," Krillin said as he blinked rapidly. "How on _Earth_ did you notice something like _that_ while all that yelling was going on?" I had the same question in mind. In fact, my thoughts went back to when Vegeta first stepped out of the gravity chamber and appeared to me – I had thought then that he had aged more than I would have thought normal, but I hadn't had time to think more on it and I had since forgotten about it. Plus, it didn't seem all that significant in the light of reuniting with my brother after more than ten years.

_How _much_ longer than ten years? _my mind now echoed.

The satisfaction in Bulma's grin was unmistakable. "I guess because I'm smarter than you are, Krillin. No surprise there," she quipped teasingly.

As Krillin was opening his mouth to retort, the Namek butted in, "The question then becomes, if you really are twenty-five years old or less, and you say there's only five years' age difference between you and Vegeta, then how is it possible for you to have been around at the time King Vegeta was killed and for you to have been alive at the time Vegeta was living directly under Frieza's orders?" His voice was once again dripping with suspicion. It wasn't enough that certain things in my life were being called into question, but add to that the fact that I myself was not sure how any of this worked or what to make of it. I had no idea how to answer his question, and he knew it. I could feel the disquiet spreading rapidly within me.

"Relax, Piccolo, I have the answer," Bulma said, still grinning. She had truly become my personal deus ex machina since meeting her. "It's just amazing to see such dramatic results for myself rather than as a theory."

Piccolo grunted as he waited for her to lay it all out.

"Time dilation."

Each of us looked to the young half-breed in surprise, all except Bulma, whose grin stretched even wider.

"That's right, Gohan. I'm impressed. When did you study up on this kind of stuff?" Bulma asked.

"Er, well, I've been interested in space travel and anything related ever since our trip to Namek. I asked for as many books as I could get on the subject and, as you can imagine, my mom was all too happy to oblige, as long as mathematics and science was involved," he explained somewhat sheepishly.

"You really should come work for Capsule Corp. after you graduate – I think you could be a real asset," Bulma said, eliciting a blush from Gohan's cheeks as a result.

"Um, I'm glad that the two geniuses in the room are able to understand each other, but could you speak more lamely for the rest of us simpletons?" Krillin said, perturbed. I felt the same way and was grateful for his ability to speak up about his ignorance, unhindered and unabashedly.

"Go ahead, Gohan," Bulma said with a nod in the boy's direction, as if a teacher allowing a student to explain his answer.

"Well, it really is complicated stuff, and I'm not all too sure I understand it completely myself just yet, but it has to do with how velocity and gravity affect time," he said, looking back at Bulma for reassurance that he was on the right track. Bulma nodded and he went on, "Basically, what it means for Aqua is that, with all the light speed travel and visiting different worlds, although the same amount of time has lapsed for both her and her brother, she has aged less than Vegeta has." He sat up straighter as his confidence in his answer was restored by the awed looks from around the room, including one from me. He was all but preening with his apparent intellectual prowess.

"Wait, how is that possible?" Krillin blurted. "How can the same amount of time, and a different amount of time, pass at the _same_ time? How can _time_ pass at different times?"

Gohan chortled at his friend's confusion and patted him on the shoulder in consolation. "I wouldn't worry too much about the inner workings of it, Krillin. I've been reading about it for years now and, like I said, I'm still not quite sure _I_ understand it all." Krillin gave Gohan an appreciative look in return.

"So, she has traveled around a lot more than Vegeta has, since he's been living here, is what you're saying," the Namek ventured.

"Right," Gohan and Bulma said in unison.

"It really is a shame I can't do more space travel," Bulma went on with a dramatic sigh. "It would do wonders for my girlish good looks and slow down my outward aging."

Although I was sure that Bulma meant it as a joke, none of the boys looked like they were sure they should be laughing about it, as they looked nervously at each other before bravely twitching their lips into what could hardly be defined as a grin. I myself had remained silent throughout the entire repartee, unsure as to the point of it except to prove my ignorance on an educational level. As far as I was concerned, I had no input to give on the subject and was at least glad to not be the center of questioning for the time being.

"Help us out here, Aqua," Bulma prompted, calling me out of my silence and back into the conversation. My eyebrows raised slightly in acknowledgement. I realized right then that I had spoken (or thought) too soon about not being questioned anymore. "So, you said you were with Vegeta at the time he was serving under Frieza. Then, you left when you saw an opportunity to do so. And then... you came here? What happened in the interim?"

I felt uneasiness churn in my stomach at her questions. I was still reeling from the science behind the fact that Vegeta and I were now somehow simultaneously five and possibly twenty-something years apart in age. As hard as I tried to not let that become apparent, I saw the Namek's eyes narrow slightly in my direction.

"There isn't much for me to say, I'm afraid," I said cautiously, deciding to put my previous thoughts out of my mind for the moment. "I was picked up by a drifter colony of people known as Chrysolitians. They're actually the ones who made me my clothes here. I got rid of my Saiyan armor and scouter as quickly as I could because I didn't want anyone associating me with Frieza – all of his soldiers wore the same get-up, as you can imagine. I had hoped to leave that life behind me and.. I don't know, make something else with my life." I avoided meeting the Namek's gaze, because something in his demeanor made me distinctly aware that he felt I was withholding information from him. "Anyway, I've been living among them since then. Well, up until now."

"And as you told me yesterday, there wasn't really a ship waiting for you," Bulma added.

"No." I looked to the others, who were staring at me quizzically, including the Namek, who had been there when I had lied to Bulma about the ship waiting for me. "I wasn't being entirely truthful yesterday about my situation, and I'm sorry about that. I don't really have anywhere to go now. As I explained yesterday, during my travels, I heard rumors about my brother coming to Earth and about Frieza's downfall, but I certainly didn't expect to uncover all of everything you've told me now. To be honest, I'm not sure what I expected to gain from coming here. I guess I just wanted to know if my brother was alive or not, and what had become of him. I guess I have my answer," I said, and then I released a sigh that had been building up in my lungs.

"What are you going to do now? If there's no ship waiting to take you back, then does that mean you're going to be staying here on Earth?" Krillin asked.

"Not that I have much choice, but if it's not too much trouble.. I'd like to stay here," I said, suddenly feeling a wave of camaraderie wash over me. I couldn't explain it, but just by sharing the few stories that we had, I felt a sort of alliance or connection forming between us – between myself and all of the others, save the Namek, anyway. Their antics and general friendliness was something I hadn't realized that I had missed until it was being offered to me again. And somehow, before I had even met any of them, it seemed our lives had been tied together, our vastly different paths set to converge, as if we were destined to meet. It was not an altogether unwelcomed feeling, just unexpected.

Each one of them sat up straighter and blinked at me in surprise.

I was beginning to feel comfortable around them and like I wanted to share in their adventures, but something inside stopped me from saying that and I instead said, "I'd like to give my brother some time to process things. I realize now that I sort of barged in on his life yesterday," I exchanged a knowing look with Bulma, remembering our conversation from the night before, "And that was wrong of me. But I'd like to see if.. if I can get things to work out between us. He's the only family I have and I spent a long time looking for him, hoping he was still alive, and now that I've found him, I—... I don't want to lose him again," I finished quietly. I had to admit that I surprised myself by being as open as I was.

Bulma must have been touched by my words, for she leaned forward and said, "I think this is great, Aqua. We'd love for you to stay. I would, at least."

"Yeah, anyone who had enough guts to stick it to _Frieza_ has _my_ respect and is welcome to stay," Krillin said.

"And mine," Gohan added.

My eyes involuntarily shifted to the Namek, expecting him to say something, but he remained silent and looked like he'd rather have me leave but like he couldn't think of a reason to argue about it either. I felt relieved on one hand. But I was also astonished by how easily they accepted the fact that I had run away from Frieza. I was sure that my brother thought I was a coward for that exact same fact. There were plenty of times where I felt that I was a coward for fleeing as well, but if only he knew the truth...

"Thank you, all of you," I said with a small smile, interrupting my own thoughts. "I know things started off a little rocky yesterday, but I'm glad to be here now." I deftly decided to avoid mentioning the events from that morning as well.

Bulma opened her mouth to speak, but just then, Gohan suddenly stood up, a look of panic passing over his face. "Oh no... I just realized what time it is. I told my mom I would go to the store for her so I could get away from studying long enough to come here! I gotta run, guys! I have to get home and study for my high school entrance exams!" he ranted. He then turned to me. "I'll see you around?"

"Okay," I said simply, nodding once.

He nodded back at me, glanced at his watch, and then sprinted for the door. "Bye everybody!" he called over his shoulder and then he was gone.

"And on that note," Krillin said, "I think I'll take my leave as well. It's probably not a good idea for me to leave the wife alone with _Master Roshi_ for too long. You know how he is."

"Oh Krillin, you don't even need to explain. You're right – you better get going," Bulma agreed with a disturbed look on her face.

Once Krillin cleared out, Piccolo stood up and unfolded his arms, his gaze lingering on me. Everything he did made me feel uncomfortable, but instead of letting him know how nervous he made me, I held my breath in my lungs for a moment, let it out slowly, and stood up as he did, locking my gaze with his fearlessly. At the same time, my tail unfurled from around my waist and hung disarmingly behind me. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly at the gesture.

"Just so we're clear," he said lowly, "I don't trust you. The others might not recognize a lie when they hear it, but I sensed multiple times that you weren't disclosing all the facts to us. And while I don't think your power alone is much of a threat, I'm still going to keep my eye on you."

"Gosh, chill out, Piccolo. Why do you always have to be such a jerk? You would think having Kami as a part of you now would have mellowed you out a little," Bulma scoffed with a roll of her eyes.

"It's okay," I said to Bulma, keeping my eyes on the Namek's. "I'm sorry for whatever I did that has caused you to mistrust me," I said calmly.

"If that's true, then maybe one day we'll hear your _whole_ story," he said pointedly. My heart twinged at his emphasis – he knew I hadn't provided all the details.

We stared at each other for a moment longer, his hardened expression never wavering, before he nodded curtly at Bulma and made his way out the door.

The moment he was gone from sight, Bulma turned to me with a heavy, exaggerated sigh. "Sorry about him. He's like that with everybody until he warms up to you, I'm afraid. Remember when we were talking about my son from the future?" I nodded absently, feeling deeply disturbed by the Namek's aversion to me when I hadn't done anything wrong but not letting that show on the outside. "Well," she went on, "He didn't trust him much either. He questioned everything about him, even after he killed Frieza and then offered us all drinks."

I remained silent, not wanting to reveal how disconcerted I really felt about the Namek's sour opinion of me.

"Hey," she said gingerly, causing me to look up at her, "Don't worry about it. Besides, I was thinking, if you're going to be staying, then we really ought to get you some new clothes. You can't go around all day wearing _that_."

I opened my mouth to speak out against her comments towards my clothing, but she went right on without missing a beat.

"What do you say, Aqua? Let me take you out to the city today, show you around, and take you shopping."

"What is 'shopping'?" I asked curiously.

Bulma looked like she wanted to fall over in shock. "Oh my God... What have they been teaching you in outer space?" I stared blankly at her, unsure as to what she was getting at. "Well, come on. Let's get some breakfast and then we'll head out. It's going to be a long day for you and me. Lots of stuff for you to try on."

Horror gripped me when a vision of the horrid pink gown from last night flashed through my mind's eye. _Oh God no... _I willed the hairs on my tail to lie flat, but it didn't seem to do any good.

"Er, it's okay, really. I'm just fine wearing.. th—..."

"Nonsense. Pretty young women such as us should never settle for anything less than spectacular."

_Then why did you make me wear that hideous gown last night?_ I felt an eyebrow twitch at the irony of it. My lips parted, prepared to deliver the snarky remark, but the words died in my throat as my cheeks warmed up. She had referred to me as a "pretty" young woman...

"You okay? Your cheeks flushed all of a sudden."

"Huh?" I looked up at her, self-conscious, and moved to scratch the back of my head, hoping that would distract her from her observation. "Oh, yes, I'm fine."

"Okay. Well, come on," she beckoned and led me into the kitchen where we had had our first conversation the night before.

As I sat down at the table and allowed my new friend to cater to me, I reflected back on everything that had happened. My mind was spinning with all the events of the last day – from the last several years, really. It was nearly incomprehensible to me how I had come from a planet that was home to a race of fierce, foul-tempered warriors; to a spaceship owned by a twisted creature bent on owning the entire universe; to a drifter colony of a fun-loving race of felines for whom I had fought in a war; and now to a place where strangers complimented me and seemed to be accepting me as one of their own at an alarmingly rapid pace.

I wasn't sure why, but something felt right about being with these people, despite how I had only just met them. As unsettling as it was to know that the Namek didn't trust or like me, it didn't truly matter to me – I had known many people in my life who didn't care much for me and I moved on. The others, though, seemed to communicate to each other so easily the things that I myself struggled to express, and it was oddly comforting. I felt myself being unwillingly drawn to their soft beacon of light.

Was my life picking up or calming down? I couldn't tell, but I decided to just go with it and see where this new path would take me.


	4. No Idea

[A/N:

**_UPDATE!_ I had to go back and edit something in chapter three that I forgot to change before I posted it. Sorry! All it is is Gohan saying he has to leave because he has to get home to study for his high school entrance exams instead of working on homework. Sorry about that! x.x**

Sorry this took so long... Been super busy. x.x I'm afraid it's not a very filling chapter either - it's sort of a transitional chapter, setting up for the next few chapters to take place. Things will start to pick up very quickly after this, and I know some things may be confusing or open up questions, but I promise it'll all be explained by the end of the story. Part of the reason this took so long to come out with is because I've already written some future chapters that I'm very much looking forward to posting! I'm so excited about those chapters that the transitional ones are kind of difficult to write haha. :P

One more thing I wanted to mention is that I'm trying to closely mimic the style of DBZ - everything from the humor to the mannerisms of the characters to the flow of time. I've written this as closely to the original timeline as possible, up until this point, of course. I hope I have done it justice. :3

Also, I do appreciate the feedback I have gotten so far. I'm glad someone's enjoying my work, so thank you very much. nn;

Anyway. Here it is. I hope it's at least mildly enjoyable. :) ]

* * *

The city was a cacophony of loud noises and chatter. Among the towering infrastructures, wide, black, smelly paths paved the way for large vehicles to restlessly speed around everywhere and oftentimes emit jarring squeals at other large vehicles. Humans of many ages meandered about aimlessly, many of them carrying multiple bags of stuff and chattering with other humans about things which I did not understand. Between it all, I was amazed that I didn't go into sensory overload, and that's not to say that my Saiyan instincts weren't screaming at me to blow something up get it all to stop. Bulma must have been amused by my reaction to things, for I caught her smirking on more than one occasion.

Several times I heard the blaring of a vehicle's horn and jumped to look where the noise came from, ready to fight if necessary.

"Gosh, Aqua, you sure are jumpy," Bulma commented during one of these incidents.

Once I realized it was nothing to be so alarmed about, I relaxed and said nothing to her about it. She didn't need to know that I couldn't help that feeling defensive was something that had been literally beaten into me during my lifetime and that loud noises usually meant danger in my experience. I much preferred the serene environment with which I had come into contact when I first arrived on this planet to this place where everything was chaotic and belligerent. I faintly wondered how Bulma so easily put up with it all, or how my brother did.

In the meantime, I hardly paid any attention to the looks I was receiving as strangers observed my tail, but after Bulma took notice, she suggested that I keep it tucked under my clothing so as not to draw so much attention to it. But, I pointed out, what did it matter if clearly there were talking dogs wearing uniforms and giant reptilian creatures roaming about? Besides, as I mentioned, my attention was more focused on the strange mannerisms and society of the humans. She let it go after that.

The dogs wearing uniforms was something by which I was admittedly taken aback. They too closely resembled my former enemies for my comfort, and I felt an uneasiness stir in my stomach at the sight of them. I had to remind myself that these dogs were not the same ones I had battled on Chrysolite those years ago. These were earthling dogs, and by the looks of it, they were hardly capable of murder. I discussed none of this with Bulma, though. It was one can of worms I didn't feel like opening with her at that moment.

Aside from the dogs, I saw couples walking around holding hands or with their arms around each other. I saw women holding the hands of children and leading them across the busy intersections of the noisy vehicles, heading to who knows where. I saw some rotund humans shuffling about, too, and wondered how they had come to be so large – Was food so abundant on this planet that people could eat so much of it that they gained weight? I witnessed some younger-looking humans coasting through the bustling crowds on wooden-looking boards with wheels on the bottom, running into people unapologetically, and looking rather full of themselves. I saw one man sitting against a wall, looking filthy and bedraggled, holding a sign that asked for money. It was strange to see all these extremes in one area. How did humans live like this?

Eventually, we veered off into some type of clothing store. Bulma began piling things up in my arms before I even knew what was going on and then ushered me towards a dressing room. She stood just outside the door, asking me repeatedly how things were going in there.

"Bulma, I can't figure how to put this on. I'm not even sure what it _is_," I finally answered her after many frustrating attempts and trying to figure out how all the straps on the thing went together to hold it against my body.

"I'm sure it's not as difficult as you're making it," she said back.

A pause as I readjusted the piece around my torso.

"Is this even considered _clothing_?"

"Fine. Crack the door open and I'll take a look."

I felt my cheeks instantly heat up. "...No way!"

"Oh come on, we're both girls here. We have the same parts – or, at least I'm sure we do. And you have a great figure. So come on, let me see."

"Okay... but I feel silly in this thing."

I allowed the door open only a few inches, just enough so that Bulma could peer inside and make sure I had put on the so-called clothing properly. I saw a flash of blue through the crack and then,

"Aqua, that looks adorable on you! You should definitely get that one!"

_Who is she kidding?!_ I wailed inwardly. Adorable was not a word I commonly used in my vocabulary. I turned back to the mirror and saw that the shirt or whatever I had slipped into barely succeeded in covering my feminine features, not to mention my scar. A slight trick of the wind might have been enough to loosen the straps that held it together around my neck and reveal all for the world to see. The color in my cheek deepened another shade or two. The pants – jeans, she had called them – seemed okay enough; they at least fulfilled the purpose of clothing and covered up my legs. The only problem was that it didn't seem to fit around my tail comfortably, but that was to be expected when the sentient species on this planet didn't have a tail.

"I don't know... Are you sure? Is this what earthling women usually wear? It seems kind of... bare."

"That's the whole point, goofy," she said impatiently. "We want to accentuate our best features, not hide them under weird robes that weren't even made for your kind."

"Hey, a dear friend of mine made that for me!"

"Well, they didn't have much fashion sense, now did they? And besides, you aren't with the.. Crystalites anymore."

"Chrysolitians," I corrected huffily.

"Well," she went on, ignoring my correction, "I think you should get it. Try on something else now."

And so it was for the next few hours, my curiosity continuously piqued by the ceaseless and senseless errands of humans while Bulma dragged me from store to store in search of more acceptable attire. I might add that what she deemed "acceptable" was mostly ghastly by my standards. I had never seen such get-ups as the ones she urged me to try on. Most of them were dresses of varying lengths or combinations of blouses and skirts, also of varying lengths. The few I was partially agreeable to were at least mostly modest and didn't make me feel entirely like some sort of showgirl. I was too shy to tell her no on some of them, so in order to appease her, I allowed her to get them for me and secretly vowed to keep them tucked away somewhere and find excuses to never actually wear them.

At some point, Bulma actually made me change into one of the outfits that she had bought for me. In one of the many dressing rooms I visited that day, I slipped into one of the "jeans" and chose the most modest shirt of the bunch, which was actually just a white form-fitting short-sleeved shirt that "accentuated my best features" as Bulma had put it. I walked around with her feeling quite uncomfortable the rest of the day and expressed to her that if I were to wear these things permanently, I'd need her to cut a hole in the articles or do something to them for my tail to move about more freely. She agreed to look into it later.

How strange this all was to me. I keep using the word strange, but that's the only word I can think of to describe the whole debacle. That and ludicrous. Ludicrous because I had traversed vast lengths of space to find my brother, and now here I was on a quaint little planet trying on questionable clothing. It was not something I had ever dreamed myself doing, not in a million years.

When all was said and done, Bulma and I returned to Capsule Corp. to get me settled into my new home. It was strange for me to think of this place as home. The closest thing I had had to a home was living on the drifter colony among the Chrysolitians while my friend Jacinth was still alive. It became less like a home after he had died, but it was still closer than anything else I had ever had. Home couldn't have been the planet Vegeta – I hadn't spent much of my life there before it met its explosive end. Home couldn't have been with Frieza – no more needed to be explained there. And home most certainly could not have been on Chrysolite itself, where most of my friends, including my best friend, had died – that was, after all, why I had left there to search for my brother in the first place. I supposed... this could be my home, since my brother and I were reunited, if you could call it that. Either way, if this was to be my home, I had a lot of adjusting to do.

When Bulma and I returned back to Capsule Corp., we were barely inside the door when we heard a rude shout from the other room.

"Woman! That better be you!"

My tail perked up. It was my brother.

The look that came upon Bulma's face was deadly. "Oh you have _got_ to be kidding me," she hissed.

She dropped the bags she had been carrying onto a chair and made her way through the room where I had been interrogated earlier and into the kitchen to where my brother's voice had come. I followed closely behind her, feeling my stomach clench at the situation. What was his problem _now_?

"I thought I told you if you called me that one more time, I'd let you starve!" she threw at my brother.

"Well fancy that, you _have_ been letting me starve!" he growled.

"What are you talking about?!"

"I'm talking about how I come in after a long day of training and there's no dinner ready!" Vegeta's piercing gaze met mine as I entered the room behind my friend and froze me to the spot. "Oh, it all makes sense now."

"What makes sense now? When have I _ever_ had dinner ready for you, your highness?" she quipped angrily, her arms folded in front of her. She then followed his line of sight and realized what he had been talking about. "What a minute – are you seriously bent out of shape that I was out with your sister for some girl time? You're impossible!"

"A fine use of time, I'm sure, based on the hideous earthling garments she's currently wearing," my brother sneered, his eyes raking over me. I felt myself shrinking inwardly under his gaze, but forced myself to hide it on the outside. "Why are you still here?!"

Once again, as I always did while in his presence, I straightened up and met his gaze evenly, all thoughts about the weird clothes Bulma had purchased for me gone from my mind.

"Vegeta, you're not—"

"Let her speak for herself!" Vegeta roared, clipping off Bulma's protests, echoing the events from the day before when I had first encountered him.

I took a small breath and said, "I—.." I exchanged a look with Bulma – she was obviously furious with his behavior, but was backing out to give me a chance to speak with my brother. I gathered up as much courage as I could and continued. "I've been through a lot to find you and I—"

"Well you wouldn't have needed to if you hadn't run away like a coward in the first place!"

"Vegeta, come on," I said calmly, though I thought my voice shook a little. In a matter of seconds, his words were already breaking through my shield, which I had long thought was impenetrable. "I had reasons for leaving, if you'd let me explain."

"None of that matters to me and I don't care to hear your excuses. It was actually a relief to not have to babysit you all the time anymore," he scoffed.

"What do you mean?" I asked hotly, now beginning to feel angry. "I hardly ever saw you! I was always with Nappa!"

"And whose orders do you think he was following?"

I felt my stomach twist up even more as fire raced upwards and my face grew hot with quickly ignited rage. I had always thought that it had been on Frieza's orders that Nappa treat me as harshly as he did, but now it seemed it had been on my own brothers'. I was now forced to wonder if Vegeta knew anything about _exactly_ what had happened, especially the things leading up towards the day I decided to leave. The shock and injustice of it was almost too much for me to take.

"You mean _you're_ the one who gave that bastard permission to—..." The pitch of my voice had risen sharply, dangerously.

"You should be _grateful_ for the treatment you received!" He interrupted, although I wasn't sure I would have been able to finish anyway. Vegeta's anger was as swift and intense as my own. At the sudden flare-up of our tempers, Bulma actually looked rather alarmed and as if she knew it was not a good idea to interject this time.

"Had it not been for Nappa's training, you would be dead by now because you were too weak to stand up and fight!" He paused only for a fraction of a second, but it was long enough for his words to soak through to my core and cause the argument I had formed to crumble right then and there. I wanted to say something about how hard I _had_ fought while we had been separated, but the words stalled in my throat. My lungs, heart, and eyes all stung at what he had said. I had only lost the will to fight after our father's untimely death – he _had_ to know that.

But I didn't get the opportunity to remind him of such things or even try to defend myself against what he had said. Vegeta's eyes found mine again and he continued his tirade. "Then again, I would have been doing myself a favor to let you live on as a weakling, however short-lived that would have been. But," he snapped, his voice suddenly becoming more waspish instead of enraged as he stabbed a finger at me, "you have royal blood flowing through your veins and I couldn't let you shame the name of our proud race! You were, and still are, a pitiful, ungrateful, sniveling little weakling and you disgust me!"

And with that, he turned and stormed towards the door leading to the outside, apparently without getting anything to eat, as he had been complaining about not moments before.

"_Geeze!_" Bulma huffed. "There's no in between with that guy – it's either one extreme or the other."

I didn't look at her or even acknowledge what she had said. My eyes lingered on where my brother had just been standing moments before, his final declaration ringing harshly in my ears.

"Come on, now. Don't let that grouch ruin your first day here. He always has something he's complaining about. And your clothes look fine – I wouldn't have bought them for you if I didn't think so."

When I still said nothing and remained where I stood, almost as if frozen, she spoke up again, more softly this time, "Call me crazy, but.. it—.. Well, that's still no excuse."

I turned and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Never mind. Just thinking out loud. Anyway, remember what we talked about yesterday – I'm sure he's just having trouble coping with the fact that you aren't really dead."

"Right," I said, a little more shortly than I intended.

"Hey, now there's no need to get snippy with _me_. I'm just trying to help you, for your information," Bulma threw back, setting her hands on her hips. Twenty-four hours was all it took for me to recognize that gesture as a warning sign.

"I know," I said with a heavy sigh, realizing how stiffly I had been standing and allowing my arms to hang more loosely by my sides. I felt the boiling water inside of me simmer down, though it settled uncomfortably in the pit of my stomach. "Sorry."

"It's all right. This is obviously going to be an adjustment for all of us," she said with a sigh of her own. She shook her head. "You probably don't want to hear this, but you and your brother actually have a lot more in common than I initially thought."

I turned to look at her with an eyebrow raised. In my opinion, Vegeta and I were polar opposites.

"You mean you really don't see it?" She pressed her lips into a thin line at my ignorance. "Never mind. Listen, whatever happened between you and your brother... I'm sure it'll take some time to sort out. But don't worry. It can be hard to tell when he's coming around, but you've got me on your side and I'm pretty good at reading him. So again, don't worry," she said and offered me a reassuring smile.

I felt like telling her that she really _didn't_ have any idea of what she was talking about, especially when it came to what happened between my brother and me. Maybe she could read my brother better than I could, but that didn't mean she had any sort of understanding of what had happened to us while we were under Frieza's control. Obviously, she had grown up on a planet where people walk around outside leisurely and buy a bunch of useless things simply because they can, where they have enough freedom to be able to own their own stores and walk around ignoring most of their own kind. She had no idea what it was like to wake up every morning (if you could even assign times of day while constantly moving through space) knowing that everything you did would be watched and scrutinized, and every failure warranted a harsh punishment, and sometimes not even knowing you fell below someone's expectations until you were being suddenly berated or beaten because they were constantly changing their minds just to mess with you. She had no idea what it was like for every day to be a mind game, a game of cat and mouse, and to have to constantly play this game for survival. She didn't understand how I had to watch as my brother betrayed our father and jovially carried out Frieza's orders, after Frieza had killed our father. She didn't have a single clue of how hard it had been for me to hold it all inside and go along in order to survive, when all I really wanted to do was drown Frieza in his own blood and rip apart all of his minions, and kill Nappa too, for everything he had done to me.

I wanted to scream all of these things to her, despite how kind she had been to me, to get her to understand that this was my life we were talking about, but in the end, I forced myself not to explode at her. Keeping myself from exploding sometimes felt like a tricky science experiment, where I was playing with a bunch of dangerous chemicals that, if they were to be mixed or come in contact with one another, it would cause a deadly reaction. But none of this was Bulma's fault. I had to remind myself of that and to handle the chemicals with a steadier hand.

"I guess so," I muttered. "Would you be offended if I went to my room for a little while? It's been an.. interesting day," I said with a small laugh, trying to show her that I wasn't worrying, but all I really wanted to do was get away from everyone and be alone for a while. I wanted to go to where she wasn't with me and take off the clothes she had gotten me and put back on the robes the Chrysolitians had made for me. Oddly enough, I had come all this way when I knew I could have stayed with them forever, but now I was finding comfort in the small things I had of them to hold onto.

She blinked at me and then slowly nodded. "Yeah. Sure. I understand. You flew across half the galaxy, and already you've had two fights with your brother and have gone shopping with me. I bet you're tired."

Despite how accurate her statement was, she still had no idea.


	5. An Abandoned Toy

[A/N: Hey gang! I'm deciding to answer a few questions I had before I continue. Sorry for being late!

A **guest** asked if I was planning on doing any pairing - The answer is YES. I won't say if it's apparent or not at this point in the story - I'll let you decide for yourselves or wait and see. :)

**Zoro's Fan** - You see more of Trunks in this chapter but unfortunately he is not a major character in this story and isn't seen as much as I know some would like. He will be there, but just not as a major role.

**Sirius Potter2** - I think you'll see in later chapters that Gohan's development is a little different than in the actual series, but I'm afraid he doesn't completely change. I think you'll like his development nonetheless.

I also wanted to point out real quick that I started writing this before I really knew anything about Tarble, so I hope any similarities don't discourage anyone from reading further. On that note, Tarble does not exist in this universe either. I thought about somehow adding him in but found it would change things too much, so I've decided to leave him out.

Another small disclaimer - There's a part in this chapter where I used some dialogue from the show to tie things together. I thought it would be funny and I like it in there. :P

Anyway, thanks for the feedback and compliments and I hope you all continue to like it!]

* * *

Life passed by in an odd sort of manner over the next few days. I say "odd" because during the numerous encounters between my brother and I, our brief meetings would begin with his asking me what I was still doing there and would quickly escalate into he and I shouting at one another until Bulma appeared on the scene to break us up, whereupon Vegeta would sneer at Bulma's words and disappear back into his gravity chamber until our next random meeting.

Despite all of that, I refused to leave. Despite all of that, I longed for he and I to become proper siblings.. not that I actually knew what proper siblings were like, but some part of me inexplicably wanted to reach out to him and forge some sort of bond with him, regardless of our sordid past. I stuck around despite the horror of my newfound knowledge of how he had not only looked the other way when it came to how lowly Nappa had treated me, but how he had actually suggested and encouraged it. I found myself scowling all too often at the thought alone, not to mention the memory of how events had transpired during my final day on Frieza's ship among the dwindling remainder of my Saiyan brethren.

Aside from the bickering between myself and my brother, Bulma and her mother kept me busy with various Earthling activities (including but not limited to a thing called television and multiple explorations around the city), all of by which I was vastly fascinated and confused. I also spent a great deal of my time hanging around Bulma while she worked on certain projects and, on a few short occasions, letting Trunks drag me around the house.

I quite liked my little nephew, and the feeling seemed to be mutual. It was actually on my third or fourth day there that I really got to meet the kid and spend some time with him. I came out of my bedroom that morning to find him, Bulma, and Mrs. Briefs all sitting at the table in the dining room, enjoying breakfast. I was invited to sit with them, and so I took my seat across from where Bulma and my nephew sat.

"Good morning, Aqua," Bulma said kindly. I nodded in return and waited while Bulma's mother busied herself in the kitchen with making up some breakfast for me as well. "Trunks," she continued, "Don't you have something to say to her?"

"Oh," said the boy, looking down at himself and blushing, "Sorry for going into your room the other day."

"And?" Bulma prompted.

"And sorry for pulling your tail."

I blinked at the two of them and sat back in my chair. "It's okay. Sorry for frightening you."

"I wasn't frightened," he said defiantly, sitting up straighter in his chair.

"Of course not. My mistake," I replied, exchanging a small glance with Bulma. She shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Mom, since she's going to be staying a while, can I show her all my toys and games?"

My eyes widened at his suggestion. The people in this family sure were quick to trust. Well, all of them but one, anyway. I wasn't sure how comfortable I would be in the presence of a child – I had never spent much time around them, after all.

"Only if she wants to," was Bulma's answer. She gave me a look that suggested that I didn't really have to accept the invitation if I didn't want to. I found this ironic coming from the same woman who had tricked me into staying on this blasted rock not four days prior.

Trunks' eyes swung in my direction and I felt all but forced to say yes.

"Great!" he said, beaming. "I'll hurry! I have a lot to show you!"

_Great._

"Looks like you don't have a choice now, Aqua," Bulma said with a grin.

I offered a small smile in return. "I guess not."

Several minutes later, I was being coaxed down the hallway towards my nephew's room by said nephew. I was all but dragged over to a wall of action figures and models of capsule vehicles whereupon Trunks regaled me in all their glory. He showed me his favorite ones, which included some character called Naruto. I didn't get it, but I smiled and went along with it. In reality, I couldn't have cared less about the toys, but it pleased the young boy to think that I was interested and I was pleased that he was pleased.

After that, he broke out all the heavy artillery, which consisted of several box-shaped electronics that had controllers which allowed one to move pixelated images across the television screen. One in particular involved choosing from a grid of characters and making them beat each other up. Whoever was the last one standing or the one with the most kills when time was up was the winner. I was quite surprised to find that after a few rounds of gameplay and learning the controls, I was actually enjoying playing these "video games" with my nephew.

But our mutual joy didn't last that long. After maybe a couple of hours, my brother suddenly appeared in the doorway, narrowing his eyes at me as he stood there, as if he couldn't decide whether he should physically throw me out or verbally attack me. I saw the muscles in his arms twitch and that was enough to relay to me that he was barely holding himself back from the former.

"Hey Dad!" Trunks chirped as he sat up straighter. I had done the same. We were at least both on the same page when it came to straightening up in the Prince's presence.

Vegeta acknowledged his son's greeting with a small grunt, but beheld me with a gaze only of the purest loathing.

"What are you still doing here?" he sneered at me. Trunks' eyes widened and he looked back and forth between us nervously.

I held my ground and replied, "Trunks was showing me his favorite toys and these 'video games,'" as pleasantly as I could.

"Hm," he grumbled. "Just stay out of my way." His eyes met mine challengingly, and I subconsciously flicked my gaze to the side in submission. That was all he needed. He snorted and then his gaze shifted to his son. "Trunks, come with me."

"Oh... Okay, Dad. Mom said I have to pick up my toys first, though."

"Let _her_ pick them up for you," he grumbled, looking back to me for a fraction of a second to indicate that he meant me and not Bulma. "Let's go."

Trunks frowned and looked to me for help. He clearly didn't want to keep his father waiting, but at the same time did not want to disobey his mother. I bit back a response to my brother's demands and smiled at the boy instead. I did not want to drag him into the middle of this.

"Go on, Trunks. I'll pick these up," I said gently. He smiled his thanks and quickly scampered over to his father's side.

Vegeta briefly gazed over to me again. I saw a victorious glint in his eyes before he turned and left with his son in tow. I immediately relaxed and sat there for a moment, frowning at the abandoned toys in the room. My thoughts unwillingly went back to what my brother had said the other day about Nappa, specifically about how he had ordered Nappa to abuse me. In a way, I sort of felt like one of the toys scattered on the floor.

After a few minutes, I got up and picked up all of the scattered toys, placing them back into where I hoped was their proper places. I took one last look around the room and sighed before heading back to where Bulma was working in her lab. When I surveyed the room, Bulma was at her computer, typing her life away.

"Is that you, Mom?" she called from over at her computer, not bothering to look up to see who she was addressing. "I could really use some coffee, if you wouldn't mind."

"It's me, actually," I responded.

"Aqua?" she said, surprised, as she clicked away at her computer. "What's up? Come on in."

At her invitation, I entered her lab and made my way over to her, stopping next to her and blinking at her computer screen.

"Has Trunks bored you already?"

I hesitated with my answer. "No. Vegeta came and claimed him for some exercise.. I think."

"Oh, I see. Yeah, he'll do that. He and Trunks spend quite a bit of time together in that gravity room, like he can't think of anything better to do, like getting a job or helping out around the place a little bit," she scoffed with a roll of her eyes.

I admittedly had to stifle something between a smirk at her sarcasm and a scoff of my own at her request. She _was_ married to the Prince of Saiyans, after all. The Prince didn't have to get a job or clean up after himself. What did she expect?

"Well anyway," she went on, "You can hang out here with me if you want to, but I'm afraid you'll probably be bored. I have a lot of work to get done. My dad and I are working on something that could potentially solve the world's energy crisis. Isn't that awesome? Well, it's a start anyway, so I don't expect the Nobel Prize just yet, but... eventually..."

Her rant trailed off into some more rapid typing. All the while, her eyes seemed to never blink. I wondered how she could spend so much time sitting there staring at a screen, but I decided not to ask her. Apparently this was her work and, also apparently, it was very important. How this world could not have come up with a solution for perpetual energy was beyond me, but then again, I certainly was not a scientist, unlike my new friend, so what did I know?

Bulma was at least right when she said that I would be bored while she was working. I couldn't bring myself to leave, anyhow, so I descended into some deep thinking while I sat back and watched her work. My thoughts again crept back to my brother and Nappa. To say Nappa had been a monster was putting it lightly. I had endured much physical, verbal, and mental abuse at his hand, probably more so than I had ever received from Frieza. Why had my brother ordered such a thing? On his sister, no less. And if hurting me had been his goal, then why had he not done it himself, instead of making Nappa, of all people, carry out his dirty work?

The fact was, I had no way of knowing any of this. At the same time, he had no way of knowing that the reason I had been so difficult with him, Nappa, and Radditz was because none of them seemed to understand that I had been restrained while being forced to watch Frieza murder my father, whom I had been very close to and for whom I would have done anything. They either didn't seem to understand or didn't care, and how they didn't care was something I couldn't grasp. I won't lie and say my brother and I were ever close, but the events of that day certainly drove the wedge between us even deeper. He wanted to continue serving Frieza even after I told him what he did, and I couldn't stand being kept around so that I could be abused in various ways and carrying out orders given by the very same bastard who had killed my father.

And so it was, Vegeta blamed me for running away and I blamed him for betraying our father. It was as simple, and as complicated, as that. The mind of my brother would forever be a mystery to me, and to everyone else, it seemed.

I was beginning to feel irritated about it all when Bulma's mother unexpectedly showed up.

"Bulma, dear." Both of us looked up to see her mother standing in the doorway, with that eternal smile on her face. "Gohan's here to see you."

"Gohan? I wonder what's up," Bulma said, getting up from where she was seated at her computer and heading out to presumably where Gohan was waiting for her.

I followed closely behind her, curious about seeing the young half-blood again. Up until then, I hadn't given much thought to the fact that there were several semi-Saiyans in existence. I hadn't even thought that inter-species breeding was possible, and what's more, it seemed these hybrids were even more powerful than a full-blooded Saiyan. I remembered Gohan's description of how he had achieved the level of Super Saiyan at such a young age, and how he had ascended and surpassed even my brother. I bet Vegeta resented him for that every day.

When we entered the living room, Gohan was standing there, waiting patiently. He turned and greeted us with a smile that seemed almost desperate.

"Bulma, I'm sure glad you're home," he said to her. Desperate indeed. He then looked at me and offered me a small nod and said, "Hello again, Aqua. Still living among us, I see."

"So it would seem," I said.

The half-blood smiled nervously and looked like he was about to say something in reply, but then Bulma prodded him. "Well, what's up? What's going on?"

"Well, you see..." he trailed off into a sigh and fell back onto the couch. "It's sort of a long story... but.."

Bulma sighed and lit up a cigarette. I coughed a little and moved away from her to sit on one of the other pieces of furniture.

"Sorry, Aqua. Is this bothering you?"

"No," I lied, attempting as genuine smile as possible. "It's okay."

She turned her attention back to Gohan, who smiled feebly and continued.

"Today was my first day of high school, as you know." Bulma nodded. "On my way to school, there were these guys trying to rob a bank. I had to stop them. So in order to keep my identity a secret, I went Super Saiyan, thinking no one would recognize me later on, but it just so happened that there was a girl from my school there who later recognized what I was wearing and put the pieces together." He let out another long-suffering sigh and let his head hang in defeat for a moment before looking back up at Bulma. "Of course I lied and played it off, but now she's suspicious of me, and... you get the idea."

"Right, got it," she acknowledged. "So you thought that no one would realize that you just so happened to be wearing the same clothes as someone who just stopped a bunch of thugs from robbing a bank. I'm sorry, Gohan, but you don't exactly see a bunch of guys running around with reddish-orange pants like yours."

His cheeks turned bright red. "I didn't know that someone from my school was going to be there, Bulma!" he protested squeakily.

"And what about your school badge right on the front of your shirt, huh?"

"So there were a few oversights on my part. But still, I couldn't just stand there and do nothing." He pushed out another heavy sigh.

For a moment, Bulma looked greatly amused. She took a long drag off her cigarette. I continued to sit there in silence, wondering what high school was and why it was so important for Gohan to keep his abilities a secret from the general public.

"Huh," Bulma said as she exhaled a cloud of the pungent smoke. "So basically you don't want anyone to recognize you, right?"

"Yeah. That's right. I'm just scared my new friends will think I'm a little weird if they see me fighting criminals. You think you can help me, Bulma?"

"Well now, you could always not fight the bad guys. But I guess playing super hero is too much in your blood, so I'll just have to make you a disguise then."

"Oh wow!" he blurted as he stood up in excitement. "You really think you could do it?"

"Gohan, remember you're talking to a girl who designs and builds space capsules for a living," she said as she leaned over to put out her cigarette. "I don't think any little _crime fighter_ costume is out of my reach."

"Thanks, Bulma, you're the best. This is gonna make school so much easier now," he said, looking greatly relieved.

"Hey, don't mention it."

"Oh and Bulma, do you happen to know where Trunks is and would you mind if I hung out with him while you're working on it?"

"Sure, just go on back to the gravity room. Last I checked, he was still training with Vegeta. He's just so dead set on making Trunks stronger than you."

_And keeping him from me,_ I thought.

"Heh heh, well... isn't that nice."

Bulma smirked. "Why don't you go on back with him, Aqua?" I perked up at being suddenly addressed by her. "I'm going to need to focus if I'm to get this done in time for Gohan to make it home for dinner."

"Okay," I said uncertainly, not sure I should be around Vegeta any more than I needed to at that point, especially seeing as he had specifically taken Trunks away from me earlier.

"Thanks again, Bulma. I can't tell you how much I appreciate this," Gohan said.

"I said not to mention it. Now get going. I'll come get you once I'm finished," she said with a light-hearted smile and quickly made her way back to her lab.

"You coming?" Gohan said when at first I didn't move.

After a moment's hesitation I said, "Sure," and got up to go with him.

An awkward silence settled between us before he decided to speak up.

"So, um... Looks like you've gotten some new, er.. clothes."

Having been caught off guard by his comment, I couldn't stop the blush from creeping into my cheeks. I wasn't sure if he was trying to be nice or trying to make some snide, underhanded remark as my brother had done just the other day. I figured he didn't seem like the type to make sarcastic comments, but still I scoffed lightly and turned my head to the side to hide my face.

"At least it's better than whatever it was she had me wear the first night I was here," I elaborated dryly.

"That—.. That's good, I guess," he said with a small chuckle.

"Yeah."

After that, another round of silence beset us. While it was, again, awkward, I couldn't think of anything that I felt like saying and I could practically feel him groping around for things to talk about.

"How are things with Vegeta then?" He didn't look as though he expected my brother to have come around, but I figured he was trying to sound as hopeful as possible just to be polite.

At the mention of my brother, though, I subconsciously straightened up and the end of my tail twitched. Gohan didn't seem to notice either of these gestures.

"He's... going to need a little bit more time, I think."

"Oh," he said awkwardly, looking away. "Forgive me for saying so, but I can't say I'm really all that surprised. From the time that I've known him, he's never adjusted very well to... well, just about anything, really."

"At least someone around here is willing to be honest about the situation."

There was silence between the two of us for a moment, and I could all but hear Gohan formulating a cautious response. He said, "Listen, I know it's hard, but just.. try not to take his attitude personally. He's like this to everyone, especially when he first meets them. Not that you're meeting him for the first time," he added hastily when he saw the bothered expression growing on my face, "but just try to... see it that way."

"I guess," I said, not wanting to talk about it anymore. He must have sensed that too, because he dropped the subject then.

As we rounded the corner, we saw Trunks standing in front of a mirror, cleaning himself up from his workout with my brother.

"Hey, Trunks!" Gohan said cheerfully.

"Gohan," the lad said back just as cheerfully, "Whatcha doin'?"

"Just stopping by. Looks like you've been having a pretty tough workout."

Trunks nodded and looked up at me with a tiny smile. "Yeah."

Suddenly, the door to the gravity chamber slid open and out stepped my brother, looking as grumpy as ever. He surveyed Gohan and me with absolute, undisguised disgust.

"Good afternoon, Vegeta," Gohan said in a feeble attempt to be friendly. "Long time, no see."

I wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic or not, seeing as he had just seen my brother a few days prior, but Vegeta either didn't notice it or decided to ignore it.

"Well, well," he said scathingly, "Aren't _you_ looking dull. A _true_ warrior should be ready even in times of peace."

"Right..." Gohan half-heartedly agreed, his eyes following the older Saiyan as he passed by.

"And you," he said as he stopped just in front of me, apparently deciding it was my turn to be berated.. again, "I thought I told you to stay out of my way."

Gohan and Trunks both widened their eyes at his remark and stared back and forth between the two of us on tenterhooks, as though we might start going at each other right then and there.

As I usually did when he said such things to me, I refused a response.

"Never mind. Out of my way." Without a second thought, I stepped to the side and couldn't help but glare at him as he walked by. "Trunks, let's go."

"But Dad, I wanna play with Gohan."

"Don't make me say it again."

The crestfallen look on Trunks' face as almost heart-breaking. He looked up at us helplessly and let his arms hang by his sides. I felt inexplicably guilty about this, like I was somehow responsible for the way his father was treating him. I felt like I should have said something in his defense, but I just as quickly decided to just let it go, despite how angry I felt.

"Sorry, Gohan.. gotta go," Trunks mumbled. "Maybe next time?"

Gohan offered him a wry grin. "Yeah, maybe. See ya around, Trunks."

"Bye."

I watched as my little nephew was once again taken away from me and felt a solemn despair growing in my stomach over it. How was I ever going to get to know him if Vegeta kept unceremoniously taking him from me like this? Something inside of me deeply wanted to bond with my nephew, and it was this same something that felt greatly offended by this injustice.

"Oh man, you weren't kidding about him needing some more time. What the heck is his problem anyway?" Gohan said suddenly, calling me out of my disgruntled reverie. He then turned to me and flinched slightly. "Uhh..."

I couldn't conceal the scowl that was etched into my face. I also couldn't think of anything to say back to him, anything nice, anyway. There was an anger inside of me that was threatening to burst forth – it was all but a struggle to contain it. Gohan must have sensed it too, because he looked at me worriedly, his eyes wide again.

"Come on, Aqua. Don't let him get to you."

The glare I sent his way that might have been enough to set him aflame.

"Ohhh-kay," he said nervously, "Sorry, didn't mean to.. offend you, or anything."

I immediately felt sorry for having been so rude and hateful, but I didn't know how to take it back in a way that wouldn't make me feel worse than I already did. So I just let it be, however wise or stupid it may have been. Besides, the kid didn't know what he was getting into by trying to be my friend. Neither did Bulma, for that matter, but she did kind of force her way into my life, and as she was quickly learning, there were drawbacks to being my friend.

"Maybe I should just.. go..." he muttered and began heading back to the living room.

I held my head up, set my jaw, and looped my tail around my waist.

"When you see Bulma, please tell her I went out for a bit," I said in a business-like tone in order to hide my emotions at that moment.

"What? Hey, where are you going?"

"It doesn't matter," I huffed and quickly turned away before I could see the look on his face or before he could say anything else.


End file.
